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The Government Finance Officers Association of Texas (or GFOAT) 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 Website, Mission Statement ) Retrieved 2009-06-04〕 GFOAT members are actively involved in the key issues facing cities, counties, and special districts in the State of Texas. 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." 〔(Government Accounting Standards Board )〕 Pronouncements in particular have trended to incorporate more comparable elements of business-sector. The need for and value of financial managers has increased. Over the past decades, a number of factors have created a rapidly changing environment for today's government financial managers. Beginning with the New York City financial crisis in the 1970s and 1980s, state and local governments began overhauling their financial management systems. In 1990, the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) act called for reforms that brought the goal of accountability to the forefront. The 1994 Bankruptcy of Orange County, California further underscored the need for ongoing excellence and expertise in the field of municipal finance. ==Role of GFOAT Membership== 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. Susan Combs is the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas. The office of Texas State Treasurer was established in the Constitution of 1876. It superseded a similar office in the Republic of Texas. The treasurer was elected to serve for four years as head of the State Treasury Department. The office was abolished by Texas voters in 1995 and was formally closed in 1996, with duties taken over by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Texas has 254 counties, by far the most counties of any state. As of 2000, six Texas cities had populations greater than 500,000. The two largest are Dallas and Houston. Texas has the most cities with populations exceeding 1,000,000 of any state: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio.〔 〕 These three rank among the 10 most populous cities of the United States. Austin, Fort Worth, and El Paso are among the 25 largest U.S. cities. Texas has 25 metropolitan areas, four of which have populations greater than 1,000,000: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin-Round Rock. The Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston metropolitan areas each has about 5 million residents. 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. In addition to cities and counties, Texas has numerous special districts. The most common is the independent school district, which (with one exception) has a board of trustees that is independent of any other governing authority. Other special districts include Groundwater Conservation Districts (regulatory agencies), river authorities, water supply districts (for irrigation or municipal supply), public hospitals, road districts and community colleges. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Government Finance Officers Association of Texas」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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