Don't Worry Your Life Away: Developing and Maintaining Appropriate Reserve Levels

How much is enough? For many governments, benchmarks to determine the appropriate level of reserves are available, but it can be difficult to know if your reserves are enough to cover the needs and potential risks of your community. However, finance professionals can build confidence in their decision by analyzing their current situation, understanding their expected risk profile, and setting policies to guide actions in the future.

This session will address the frequent mistakes that governments make in approaching reserves including not clearly differentiating reserves from fund balance and failing to communicate the strategy behind available reserves to key stakeholders. Speakers will also discuss alternative solutions that may be available and outline the differences between risk reserves and other reserve strategies. Attend this session to help us challenge common assumptions in the profession related to reserves and build confidence in your approach to future risk mitigation.