The annual Municipal Finance Conference brings together academics, practitioners, issuers, and regulators to discuss recent research on municipal capital markets and state and local fiscal issues. The conference is a joint venture of the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings, the Rosenberg Institute of Global Finance at the Brandeis International Business School, the Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. School of Business at Purdue University, and the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. The 2024 conference will be held primarily in person – there will be livestream options for remote viewers – on July 17 and 18 at Brookings Institution.

Christine Kuglin, Director of the TIA project at DU, moderated a break-out session with Joel Black, President of the Governmental Accounting Standards Boards. This session provided an overview of the current projects, research, and activities of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) with focus areas being (1) current projects on infrastructure assets and going concern uncertainty/severe financial stress, (2) monitoring of the impact of technology on governmental financial reporting, (3) early stages of the GASB’s work on a financial statement taxonomy, and (4) the GASB’s post-implementation review process. Included in this session will be a discussion on how the academic community can engage with the GASB and its current activities.

Chris was also the lead researcher for the following paper, which was presented at the conference.