In Brief Governments often hold equity interests in legally separate entities that are utilized to deliver government services, sometimes through cooperative ventures, or for investment…
ICYMI | The Fight of a Lifetime
Telling It Like It Is on the National Debt
In Brief Joseph DioGuardi, the first practicing CPA elected to Congress, defined his career by advocating for financial accountability and fiscal responsibility from the U.S.…
CPAs often engage in conversations with others about the United States' financial condition. These conversations can be part of a CPA's practice or they may…
The Fight of a Lifetime
Telling It Like It Is on the National Debt
In Brief Joseph DioGuardi, the first practicing CPA elected to Congress, defined his career by advocating for financial accountability and fiscal responsibility from the U.S.…
Envisioning the Future of Government Reporting
Looking Back to Move Forward
In Brief Government accounting has come a long way in the past several decades, in large part due to the efforts of GASB. But the…
Uniform Guidance is an authoritative set of rules and requirements for federal awards for both nonfederal recipients (i.e., state and local governments; nonprofits, including institutes…
In Brief The need for accounting standards for government entities has been long recognized, but the road to establishing the right body to set such…
Since 1973, GAAP (APB Opinion 28) has recognized the acceptability of presenting condensed interim information by public companies as provided for in Article 10 of…
The Unsustainability of the Current U.S. Fiscal Path
Making the Case for Pragmatic Reforms
In Brief The U.S. federal government's own financial reporting paints a picture of an “unsustainable fiscal path.” The projections from the Treasury Department and Government…
Recently, The CPA Journal interviewed Joseph DioGuardi, the first practicing CPA elected to Congress, representing New York's 20th Congressional district from 1985 to 1989. DioGuardi is currently…
Recently, The CPA Journal interviewed Joseph DioGuardi, the first practicing CPA elected to Congress, representing New York’s 20th Congressional district from 1985 to 1989. DioGuardi…
The New Yellow Book
What CPAs Need to Know
In Brief The Government Accountability Office recently released a new version of Government Auditing Standards, also known as the Yellow Book. The revised version has been…
Why have so many state and local governments accumulated massive debts, even as they claimed to balance their budgets every year? Political math. Wait, how…
Since 1973, GAAP (APB Opinion 28) has recognized the acceptability of presenting condensed interim information by public companies as provided for in Article 10 of…
New Jersey’s 2019 State Budget
Significant Tax Changes and an Amnesty Program
On July 1, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) signed the state's fiscal year 2019 budget after long negotiations with the legislature. Below is a…
ICYMI | State and Local Government Pensions at the Crossroads
Updating Accounting Standards Highlight the Challenges
In Brief Underfunding, questionable investment decisions, imperfect assumptions on future market returns, declining interest rates, and the structure of defined benefit plans have created a…
Urgent Need for Governmental Accounting Education
New Generation Needed to Fill Retirements at Federal, State, and Local Agencies
The need for governmental accounting education has never been greater in the United States, as governments at the federal, state, and local levels face a…
Governmental accounting has a long history of development. Although the designation of specialized standards-setting bodies has been relatively recent, with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board…
ICYMI | Internal Control Deficiencies in Local Government
Evidence from School Districts
Internal controls are a vital component of any financially healthy organization, and public school districts are no exception. In New York, the Office of the…
Why have so many state and local governments accumulated massive debts, even as they claimed to balance their budgets every year? Political math. Wait, how…
CPAJ News Briefs
FASB/GASB News
FASB News Fair Value Disclosure Rules Scaled Back On March 7, the FASB published an update to U.S. GAAP to improve the information businesses disclose…
Nasty financial weather is raining down on many state and local governments. Retirement benefits and related obligations have grown into thunderheads, seeded by decades of…
If you ask most of the NYSSCPA's committee members about our government affairs program, they may not realize something—that they're a major part of it.…
This issue focuses on accounting, auditing, taxation, and management issues specific to the not-for-profit and government sectors. Although these entities present unique challenges to the…
The Association of Government Accountants (AGA) is a nonprofit professional organization for accountants employed in federal, state, local, and international government financial management. Its website…