Illuminating Financial Trends: A Training for Mayors
Wednesday, July 21
9am PST/10am MST/11am CST/12pm EST
This training is specifically framed and created for mayors, but we also welcome finance directors and mayors’ chiefs of staff.
Most cities complete and publish a public, audited document called the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR, formerly known as CAFR). This document is different from your city’s budget, which looks forward; the ACFR looks into a city’s recent past, illuminating financial trends. These reports are important because they are used by ratings agencies to help inform your city’s bond rating.
But did you know that advocacy groups, including public safety unions, also use this document to inform their strategy when lobbying mayors and city councils?
We invite city leaders to a training on how to read and understand these reports, and to anticipate who else might be using them and how.
Darlene Lanham is an Austin, Texas-based advocate and expert in using city financial reports for advocacy campaigns, and creator of CAFRDATA.com, a consultancy that offers trend analysis and campaign advice.
She’ll walk you through how you can optimize your use your city’s financial reports, the limitations of the reports, regale you with stories that illuminate the role of the ACFR inside and outside city government, and take your questions.
In partnership with:
