GFOA’s Research and Consulting Center (RCC) is nationally recognized for its comprehensive analytical and advisory services, as well as for research on issues specific to state and local governments’ financial, human resource, procurement, payroll and operational management. Since beginning operations in 1977, the RCC has assisted hundreds of cities, counties, public utilities; and other forms of government to create best practice solutions to meet their unique challenges.  

Together with its practitioner-focused, highly skilled staff and unparalleled access to the profession of public management, GFOA leverages its member network, ongoing research initiatives and lessons learned from our past consulting engagements to each new project. As a not-for-profit membership association, our mission-driven orientation means that we place your government's success above all else.

GFOA's Research and Consulting Center begin working with local governments in the area of risk-based reserve analysis in 2008, building from our consulting experience in long-term financial planning and policies. Using a customized approach based on a government's risk factors, GFOA works with local governments to determine the appropriate level of reserves for their circumstances and to identify policies to strengthen their overall reserve strategy.

Local governments have long relied on incremental, line item budgeting where last year’s budget becomes next year’s budget with changes around the margin. Though this form of budgeting has its advantages and can be useful under circumstances of stability, it also has important disadvantages. The primary disadvantage is that it causes local governments to be slow to adapt to changing conditions. The premise of the Rethinking Budgeting initiative is that the public finance profession has an opportunity to update local government budgeting practices to take advantage of new ways of thinking, new technologies, and to better meet the changing needs of communities. GFOA's Rethinking Budgeting Workshops help organizations realize what is possible and how they can take advantage of new research to replace their existing budget process with one focused on collaboration, effective decision making, budgeting best practices, and and a connection to community priorities.

Local governments across the country want their accounting function to meet user needs, provide the support necessary to achieve strategic goals, and assure taxpayers that appropriate financial stewardship is being exercised. Assessment criteria used by the GFOA are based on best practices in local government financial management. In addition to these criteria, GFOA also reviews a "checklist" of factors related to staffing, technology, and the business processes used in that department.