GovFin 2023: Empowering Governments, Modernizing Reporting

Christine Kuglin, JD, CPA, LLM, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, Chair of the GovFin 2023 Conference Committee

Mark Funkhouser, President, Funkhouser & Associates, former Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri

The Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) and the Grants Reporting Efficiency and Transparency (GREAT) Act aim to improve government transparency and accountability. But, as some have suggested, are these bills simply “solutions in search of a problem”? Furthermore, how will data standards meet legislative expectations? Explore the status of government financial reporting today and its impact on government entities, regulators, analysts, researchers, policy setters, and other data consumers. Gain insights from demonstrations of how data is prepared and used in machine-readable formats.

Data User Panel 1: Using Government Financial Statement Data

• Stephanie Leiser, Lecturer in Public Policy, University of Michigan
• Barnet Sherman, Senior Managing Partner, Tenbar Capital
• Robert Widigan, Chief Deputy Financial Officer, Wayne County, Michigan

Data User Panel 2: Using Government Grants & Single Audit Data

• Kinney Poynter, CPA, Executive Director, National Association of State Auditors, Treasurers, and Comptrollers (NASACT)
• Mark Priebe, Director of the Non-Federal Audit Team, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Education

Demonstration: Creating & Analyzing Machine-readable Government Data

• Marc Joffe, Senior Policy Analyst, The Cato Institute
• Campbell Pryde, President, and CEO, XBRL US

Introduced and moderated: Sheila Weinberg, Founder & CEO, Truth in Accounting

Forward-thinking state and local governments have implemented programs to improve the efficiency of reporting and access to government financial data, but there are still challenges in data access that can be addressed. Hear from governments about existing programs and how they are looking to build on these programs for better analytics and more timely financial reporting.

Speakers:

• Megan Kilgore, elected City Auditor of Columbus, Ohio
• Bob Hinkle, Chief Deputy Auditor, Ohio Auditor of State
• Marc Joffe, Senior Policy Analyst, The Cato Institute

Regulators require the use of many different entity identifiers, from the LEI to the CIK to the DUNS to the UEI. Likewise, they use many different securities identifiers, from the CUSIP to the FIGI to the ISIN. Identifiers in use today may be open-source or commercially used. They may be globally used or limited to use by a single regulator.

This session will address the complicated landscape of entity and securities identifiers and will focus on the challenges and benefits to be gained from leveraging a single open identifier that can be used across regulatory frameworks.

Speakers:

• Scott Preiss, Senior Vice President, Global Head – CUSIP, FactSet Research Systems, Inc.
• Richard Robinson, Chief Strategist, Open Data and Standards, Bloomberg LP
• Peter Warms, Business Development Manager, Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF)

Moderated by Campbell Pryde, President and CEO, XBRL US

Real-world experiences provide important lessons about what worked, what didn’t, and how similar programs can be implemented with greater success going forward. Data standards have achieved their goals and been delivered on time and on budget in over 200 initiatives around the world. Attend this session to hear individual case studies from regulators in the U.S. Join panelists for a Q&A session.

Speakers:

• Robert Hudson, Energy Industry Analyst, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
• Julie Marlowe, Assistant Director of the Office of Structured Disclosure in the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• Mark Montoya, Senior IT Specialist, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

From the DATA Act to the FDTA, legislators are increasingly turning to data standards to encourage greater transparency and accountability, and to reduce costs across governments and business. Attend this session to learn how and why legislators in the U.S. are embracing data standards.

Speaker: Corinna Turbes, Policy Director, Data Foundation

Section 5823 of the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) calls for data standards in municipal issuer reporting. Attend this 2 part session to learn about FDTA timing, what it involves, and how it might be implemented.

Part 1 will include a review of the expected timing for the legislation and a discussion with the organizations that are likely to play a role in its implementation. Part 2 of this session will feature case studies in how data standards could be implemented for local government reporting including programs in Florida, Michigan, Colorado, and Illinois.

Impact of FDTA Panel 1

• Joel Black, Chair, Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)
• Liz Sweeney, Board Member, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB)
• Dave A. Sanchez, Director of the Office of Municipal Securities, Securities and Exchange Commission

Case Studies in Automating Reporting Panel 2

• Karl Eiholzer, Director of Data Analytics, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
• Christine Kuglin, JD, CPA, LLM, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver
• Stephanie Leiser, Lecturer in Public Policy, University of Michigan
• Robert Widigan, Chief Deputy Financial Officer, Wayne County, Michigan

Introduced and moderated: John Truzzolino, Director of Business Development, DFIN

Investors, securities analysts and bond issuers will be affected by the FDTA. Hear the views of Barnet Sherman, Professor at Boston University, Senior Contributor to Forbes.com, and Founder of The Tenbar Group. With 30 years of institutional investor experience building and managing multi-billion municipal bond investment portfolios at Morgan Stanley and TIAA., Mr. Sherman will share his insights into the future of the municipal bond market in a world with data standardization as called for in the FDTA.

Speaker: Barnet Sherman, Founder, Senior Managing Partner, The Tenbar Group LLC

Free and open data standards encourage competition and ensure the lowest costs for data preparers, collectors and users. A robust, competitive marketplace of open-source and commercial tools supports a healthy, low-cost reporting ecosystem for government reporting and data collection. Attend this session to learn more and meet some of the providers that support government reporting efficiencies.

Speakers: To  be determined