Abbreviation | CSMFO |
---|---|
Formation | 1958 |
Legal status | Association |
Purpose | Government Finance in California |
Location | |
Membership | California local government agencies |
Officers: | President: Pauline Marx, City and County of San Francisco President-Elect: Pamela Arends-King, City of Tustin Past President: Laura Nomura, City of Riverside |
Board of Directors: | John Adams, City of Thousand Oaks Joan Michaels Aguilar, City of Dixon Teri Albrecht, City of Merced Drew Corbett, City of Sunnyvale Margaret Moggia, West Basin Municipal Water District Terri Willoughby, City of Menifee |
Affiliations | Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Government Finance Officers Association of Texas (GFOAT) |
The California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (or CSMFO) is a professional association of state, county, and local government finance officers in California. The California Society of Municipal Finance Officers is the statewide organization serving all California municipal finance professionals, an affiliate of the nationwide Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). Membership is open to anyone in the State of California actively engaged in government finance in any city, county, or special district.
The Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990(CFO Act) was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush. For each of 23 federal agencies, the position of chief financial officer was created. Since that time, federal efforts have been intended to improve the government's financial management and develop standards of financial performance and disclosure. Similar financial expectations exist at State and Local government levels.
The chief financial officer (CFO) of a public agency is the corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the business or agency. This officer is also responsible for budgeting, financial planning, record-keeping, cash flow management, higher management. communicating financial performance and forecasts to the community. The title may vary, such as finance director or treasurer, from agency to agency. The CFO typically reports to the city manager or other chief executive officer.
Financial reporting has multiple audiences, with a responsibility to citizens, taxpayers and voters to provide transparent accountability for use of public funds (taxes). Additionally, financial reporting must provide internal guidance to program managers to maintain budgetary control and to governing city councils and boards of directors to provide adequate financial policy guidelines.
The United States government in general has sought to improve the quality of financial reporting. The Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has a stated mission to "establish and improve standards of state and local governmental accounting and financial reporting that will result in useful information for users of financial reports and guide and educate the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of those financial reports." [1] Pronouncements in particular have trended to incorporate more comparable elements of business-sector.
Members are finance directors and treasurers of municipalities and other local government agencies, whether elected or appointed, having responsibility for collection, receipt, reporting, custody, investment or disbursement of municipal funds. Municipal funding sources are commonly property tax, sales tax, income tax, utility users tax (UUT), transient occupancy tax (hotel occupancy), and user fees such as licensing and permit fees.
Michael Genest is the Finance Director and Bill Lockyer is the Treasurer of the State of California. There are 480 California cities, [2] 58 California counties [3] about 3,400 Special Districts [4] and School Districts, each with independent fiscal stewardship. Many City Treasurers are elected, and are therefore directly accountable to their constituents; the remainder are appointed either by City Council or City Manager. Finance Directors typically are appointed by the City Manager.
Certification is a guide for municipal finance directors and treasurers to become valued administrators in local government. CSMFO encourages professional certification for public finance directors and treasurers who meet standards of education, experience and commitment to a code of ethics. CSMFO does not offer its own post-nominal professional certificate since GFOA already administers the Certified Professional Finance Officer (CPFO), CMTA offers the Certified California Municipal Treasurer (CCMT) certification program, [5] and the Association of Government Accountants offers the Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) certification, requiring six hours of testing on Federal, State and Local Government Financial material.
Members are enjoined to adhere to legal, moral and professional standards of conduct. [6]
CSMFO has technical and professional committees that deal with financial issues facing government and the public. CSMFO also provides web-based technical support resources, educational material, conferences and technical publications for its members. CSMFO's annual statewide conferences provide an array of education across many topics and alternate annually between various northern and southern cities.
Standing Committees Financial Leadership is furthered by engaging in efforts to assist statewide finance officers to develop the skills and capabilities necessary to enable them to become organizational leaders as well as technical experts.
Committee | Chair |
---|---|
Administration | Robert Burns, City of Chino |
Annual Seminar | Janet Salvetti, City of Stockton |
Budget and Management Reporting | Pamela Arends-King, City of Santa Ana |
Career Development | Dennis Danner, City of Newport Beach |
Fiscal Policy | Josh Betta, City of Glendora |
Membership | Steve Chapman, City of Moreno Valley |
Professional and Technical Standards | Jesse Takahashi, City of Campbell |
Technology | John Adams, City of Thousand Oaks |
The CSMFO website is a statewide resource for a variety of documents relevant to local government. CSMFO's library of resources includes sample RFPs, job descriptions, and a variety of documents and information relevant to local government. Categories of posted information include Accounting/Financial Reporting, Budgeting, Consultants, Investments/Cash Management, Job Descriptions, Payroll, Human Resources, Policies & Procedures, Revenue Management, RFPs/RFQs, and Technology.
Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Not all certifications that use post-nominal letters are an acknowledgement of educational achievement, or an agency appointed to safeguard the public interest.
A chief financial officer (CFO), also known as a treasurer, is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances . The CFO thus has ultimate authority over the finance unit and is the chief financial spokesperson for the organization.
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the national professional organization of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) in the United States, with more than 428,000 members in 130 countries. Founded in 1887 as the American Association of Public Accountants (AAPA), the organization sets ethical standards and U.S. auditing standards. It also develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination. AICPA is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, and maintains additional offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Ewing, New Jersey.
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United States, the CPA is a license to provide accounting services to the public. It is awarded by each of the 50 states for practice in that state. Additionally, all states except Hawaii have passed mobility laws to allow CPAs from other states to practice in their state. State licensing requirements vary, but the minimum standard requirements include passing the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination, 150 semester units of college education, and one year of accounting-related experience.
A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization.
The State Auditor of North Carolina is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The state auditor is a constitutional officer responsible for overseeing and reviewing the financial accounts of all state government agencies. The auditor also conducts performance audits of state agencies, ensures state agencies' accounting conforms with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, evaluates the integrity of computer-generated information, and investigates the misuse of state funds or property. The incumbent is Jessica Holmes, who became state auditor on December 16, 2023.
The municipal government of Toronto is the local government responsible for administering the city of Toronto in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its structure and powers are set out in the City of Toronto Act.
The Government Finance Officers Association is a professional association of approximately 19,000 state, provincial, and local government finance officers in the United States and Canada. GFOA is headquartered in downtown Chicago.
In the state and territorial governments of the United States, 54 of the 56 states and territories have the executive position of treasurer. New York abolished the office of New York State Treasurer in 1926, in which the duties were transferred to the New York State Comptroller. Texas abolished the position of Texas State Treasurer in 1996, transferring the duties of that office to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
The Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector is an elected Constitutional officer for the U.S. State of Oklahoma. The State Auditor and Inspector is responsible for auditing and prescribing bookkeeping standards of all government agencies and county treasurers within Oklahoma. The office in its current form is a consolidation of the office of State Auditor with that of the office of State Examiner and Inspector, both of which dated back to statehood in 1907. The two positions were combined in 1979 after passage of State Question 510 in 1975. Tom Daxon was the first person to hold the combined office and the first Republican as all previous occupants of either position were Democrats.
A Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) is a professional certification issued by the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) in the United States. It was created in 1994 to provide a professional standard of financial expertise and ethics in government and a standard by which government financial management professionals are measured. Its education, experience and ethics requirements have served to elevate the most seasoned financial professionals.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to accounting:
The Comptroller of Illinois is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Illinois. Ten individuals have held the office of Comptroller since the enactment of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, replacing the prior office of Auditor of Public Accounts that was first created in 1799. The incumbent is Susana Mendoza, a Democrat.
The accountancy profession in Malaysia is regulated by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) through the powers conferred by the Accountants Act, 1967. The MIA is an agency under the Ministry of Finance and reports directly to the Accountant General Office. As at 4 February 2016, MIA has 32,618 members of which 68% are involved in commerce and industry, 22% in public practice and 10% in government and academia. Selangor and the Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory have the largest concentration of MIA membership with 13,125 and 7,351 members respectively. https://web.archive.org/web/20150725035639/http://www.mia.org.my/new/members_statistics_state.asp
California Municipal Treasurers Association (CMTA) is the professional society of active public treasurers of California counties, cities, and special districts. It sets ethical standards for the treasury profession in state and local government in California.
A Certified California Municipal Treasurer (CCMT) is a post-nominal professional certification awarded by the California Municipal Treasurers Association (CMTA) to California public treasurers who meet standards of education, experience, and a stated commitment to a code of ethics. It was created in 1978 to provide a professional standard of financial expertise and ethics in California government treasury.
The municipal treasurer is a position of responsibility for a municipality according to the locally prevailing laws. The treasurer of a public agency is elected by the voting public or is appointed by the municipal council or municipal manager. City treasurers are primarily responsible for managing the revenue and cash flow of the agency, banking, collection, receipt, reporting, custody, investment or disbursement of municipal funds.
The Government Finance Officers Association of Texas is a professional association of state, county, and local government finance officers in Texas. The Government Finance Officers Association of Texas is the statewide organization serving all Texas municipal finance professionals, an affiliate of the nationwide Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). Membership is open to anyone in the State of Texas actively engaged in government finance in any city, county, or special district. Its stated mission is to enhance the quality of local government finance, to assist and support local government finance professionals in Texas, and to promote the public service profession. GFOAT members are actively involved in the key issues facing cities, counties, and special districts in the State of Texas.
Association of Public Treasurers of the United States and Canada (APTUSC) is the professional society of active public treasurers of counties, provinces, cities, and special districts in the United States and Canada. It sets ethical standards for the treasury profession in state and local government.
The AGA is a professional organization for government financial management professionals. Its activities include work in government financial management across sectors and worldwide, working to increase government financial performance and accountability. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, the AGA was founded in 1950 and currently has more than 14,000 members. In addition, the AGA grants the professional designation of Certified Government Financial Manager.