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Government

GFOA

by GFOA

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Latest episodes

  • GFOA Audio Insights: Rethinking Materiality in Government Accounting

    February 2, 2026 · 30 min

    This report suggests local governments are often overly cautious about what counts as “material,” adding unnecessary cost and complexity to financial reporting. By shifting the focus to decision-useful accuracy rather than exhaustive…

  • GFOA Audio Insights: First Principles of Public Finance

    January 21, 2026 · 24 min

    First principles are the basis for any field, including public finance. They express a fundamental truth about public finance. They remain consistent despite technology and organizational characteristics of public finance that change over…

  • GFOA Audio Insights: Budgeting is Better with Rhythm

    January 21, 2025 · 20 min

    Life needs rhythm. The human body has a heart rhythm, circadian sleep-wake rhythm, breathing rhythm, and more. Being in rhythm is key to a long and healthy life. Local government budget offices also need to establish a rhythm for the…

  • GFOA Audio Insights: Budget Games

    January 10, 2025 · 47 min

    Our new research delves into the tactics or “games" used by participants in the budget process to secure more resources. The most common such game is "The Padding Play", where budget requestors inflate their needs. Listen to learn more on…

  • GFOA Audio Insights: Budget Officer as the Decision Architect

    September 23, 2024 · 18 min

    Organizations benefit from decision architecture. Budget officers can be the decision architects of local governments by building on four job responsibilities that allow them to reduce the impact of well-known problems of bias and noise in…

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  • GFOA Audio Insights: Power, Politics, and Budgeting

    September 11, 2024 · 35 min

    “Power politics” is the use of power for selfish gain at the expense of broader community. This is incompatible with the purpose of local government budgeting. However, the finance officer can “change the game” and redirect the energy of…

  • GFOA Audio Insights: Simplifying Complexity

    August 19, 2024 · 24 min

    Reality is complex; mental models simplify it. A mental model is a tool that helps us make sense of the world and manage complexity and large amounts of information. For example, in public finance, thinking of reserves or rainy-day funds…

  • GFOA Audio Insights: The City of Arlington Wins GFOA's Fiscal Fluency Challenge

    July 26, 2024 · 10 min

    The City of Arlington, Texas, created videos to make public finance easy to understand. They used themes like “Build, Unite, Create,” comparing budgeting to a Lego set, and “Budget Bites,” which was styled like a cooking show. Arlington’s…

  • GFOA Audio Insights: Breaking the Law of Triviality

    July 1, 2024 · 8 min

    Many budget officers have had an experience like the following during budget deliberations with the governing board: The governing board spends what seems like (or may be) hours discussing the line item for office supplies (“Can we reduce…

  • "Prepared to Manage Change"

    January 20, 2023 · 1 hr 6 min

    This podcast features a conversation with Francisco Ordaz. For Francisco, his challenges were an opportunity to find the beauty out of life and the silver lining of compassion found in simple acts of kindness. You will hear an immigrant’s…

  • "If We Don't Look Ahead, We Will Be Behind"

    January 13, 2023 · 1 hr 6 min

    This podcast features a conversation with Sơn Lê Hughes, chief financial officer of the West Linn-Wilsonville School District in Oregon. Sơn Lê grew up in Vietnam during the war that ravished her country. After a trying childhood, she…

  • "Not the Way I Want to Grow Up"

    January 6, 2023 · 59 min

    This episode features a conversation with Dean Rear, General Manager of Financial Services and Chief Financial Officer with the Metro Vancouver Regional District. Growing up in Alberta at the foothills of the Rockies, on a mixed farm of…

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About the show

Gain insight through research from the Government Finance Officers Association.