California Society of Municipal Finance Officers

The CalCPA Governmental Accounting & Auditing Committee and California Committee on Municipal Accounting (CCMA) recently issued a Government Industry Alert that provides suggested guidance on key considerations related to GASB Statement No. 87, Leases.

Read The Full Article: https://news.csmfo.org/2022/03/21/government-industry-alert-gasb-87-leases/

Looking Forward

I’d like to extend my congratulations to our newly elected board members, and while I reflect with gratitude on my term on the CSMFO board, my thoughts turn toward futurist Rebecca Ryan, a CSMFO annual conference speaker in both 2020 and 2021. Her timely and inspiring 2021 conference presentation focused on the place between what was and what will be – that space connecting the past and the future, the messy middle.

Read the Full Article Here: https://news.csmfo.org/2022/03/17/looking-forward/

Will Fuentes, Outgoing CSMFO Board Member Message

Will Fuentes served as a Northern California CSMFO Board Member from 2019 to 2022. His years of past and continued service to public finance and CSMFO are celebrated. The Communications Committee asked Will to share some distinct thoughts about being a board member and how he got involved in CSMFO leadership. Here is what he shared. Thank you Will.

Read the Full Article Here:
https://news.csmfo.org/2022/03/17/will-fuentes-outgoing-csmfo-board-member-message/

Editor's Alley | March 2022

"First off, I want to say “hello” to all our CSMFO government, student, and commercial members statewide and introduce myself. My name is Will Fuentes and I am the new Chair of the Communications Committee; coming off a three-year term on the CSMFO Board. Second, I want to sincerely thank our former Communications Chair, James Russell-Field, for all his hard work and dedication and bringing informative, quality, and useful content to our members. He did a fantastic job this past year and has been invaluable to me, Vice-Chairs Jennifer Becker and Kofi Antobam, and the entire Communications Committee during this transition."

Read the Article Here:
https://news.csmfo.org/2022/03/16/editors-alley-march-2022/

Just a couple days left to sign up for the CSMFO Cohort Program! It's going to be an incredible year for this program, get involved today!

“The CSMFO Cohort has helped me to expand my network of Municipal Finance professional friends, learn how to better leverage CSMFO programs and information, hear how others are dealing with current issues and see quick answers from the group to any Municipal Finance questions that have popped up among the group.”

Coming off our inaugural year, this program promises to be even more spectacular as we have worked through hiccups and added more valuable content based on feedback from our pilot year participants.

“I didn’t know what to expect of the Cohort program when I signed up, but I am sure glad I did. I was able to connect with professionals at various levels up and down the State and develop stronger bonds and a couple of handfuls of new resources and friends to carry on my journey through this public sector life and career.”

The objective of the CSMFO Cohort Program is to build a sense of team among members, improve your professional advancement opportunities, and offer a better understanding of CSMFO programs. This is roughly, a one-year program (running from May 2022 through February 2023), with 8 scheduled meetings once a month, lasting 90 minutes via Zoom. The program is scheduled for 60 minutes with meetings offering 15 minute, before and after, “watercooler” time.

Sessions anticipated for the year will cover topics around networking, becoming familiar with other professional associations, an insiders glimpse of the annual conference, career path planning, tools for improving your relationship with your City/General Manager, and ways to get more satisfaction out of your personal and professional accomplishments. The more you engage the Cohort, the more you will get out of it!

Please submit your form by Friday, March 18 at 11:59pm. Applications will be taken in the order received with an anticipated capacity of 50; so sign-up now! Successful applicants will be notified in April 2022.

To apply, fill out the web form located here: https://www.csmfo.org/cohort-program/cohort-program/

If you registered for the upcoming Discover CSMFO Annual Conference Virtual Sessions beginning tomorrow!

Last week, you should have received an email from “Discover CSMFO Virtual Sessions [email protected].”

This email provides a link for you to access the sessions and your profile.

Didn’t receive this email? Check your spam folder, if you still do not see it, reach out to [email protected] as soon as possible.

Enhancing Member Engagement
Membership Committee Update

With the impacts of the pandemic in full swing in 2021, the Membership Committee wanted to expand its role beyond just attraction and retention- committee members wanted to find new ways to engage with members. The Membership Committee still focuses on reaching out to non-members / early career professionals and providing support to the student engagement committee, but the pandemic found them needing to connect more with members in a purposeful way to hear and be heard.

Read the Full Article Here:
https://news.csmfo.org/2022/03/14/enhancing-member-engagement/

We are excited to launch the second year of CSMFO’s cohort program! Coming off our inaugural year, this program promises to be even more spectacular as we have worked through hiccups and added more valuable content based on feedback from our pilot year participants. Participants from the program’s first year have said:

“The CSMFO Cohort has helped me to expand my network of Municipal Finance professional friends, learn how to better leverage CSMFO programs and information, hear how others are dealing with current issues and see quick answers from the group to any Municipal Finance questions that have popped up among the group.”

“I didn’t know what to expect of the Cohort program when I signed up, but I am sure glad I did. I was able to connect with professionals at various levels up and down the State and develop stronger bonds and a couple of handfuls of new resources and friends to carry on my journey through this public sector life and career.”

The objective of the CSMFO Cohort Program is to build a sense of team among members, improve your professional advancement opportunities, and offer a better understanding of CSMFO programs. This is roughly, a one-year program (running from May 2022 through February 2023), with 8 scheduled meetings once a month, lasting 90 minutes via Zoom. The program is scheduled for 60 minutes with meetings offering 15 minute, before and after, “watercooler” time.

Sessions anticipated for the year will cover topics around networking, becoming familiar with other professional associations, an insiders glimpse of the annual conference, career path planning, tools for improving your relationship with your City/General Manager, and ways to get more satisfaction out of your personal and professional accomplishments. The more you engage the Cohort, the more you will get out of it!

Please submit your form by Friday, March 17 at 11:59pm. Applications will be taken in the order received with an anticipated capacity of 50; so sign-up now! Successful applicants will be notified in April 2022.

To apply, fill out the web form located here: https://www.csmfo.org/cohort-program/cohort-program/

2022 Discover CSMFO | Virtual Sessions

There is still time to participate in sessions from last month’s Discover CSMFO in-person conference! This year’s Host Committee is offering a virtual conference component, including 14 of the hottest topics, as well as the general session and featured speakers from the recent in-person conference. Register now to maximize on education and CPE credits!

These sessions were video recorded live at the conference and will be offered on four afternoons in March 2022:

Tuesday, March 15
Wednesday, March 16
Tuesday, March 22
Wednesday, March 23

The speakers that participated at the live conference will be present to answer any questions that virtual conference attendees may have. Thus, a majority of sessions will qualify for CPE credit (excluding featured speakers and roundtable sessions).

Did you attend the conference but are interested in viewing sessions you missed? You still have the option to register at a discounted price of $150. In addition, the virtual conference allows staff that otherwise could not attend the conference to access some valuable training. If you did not attend the in-person conference, you can still sign up for the virtual conference for $350.

Registration closes on March 8th!

Register Today: https://events.csmfo.org/event/2022

View The Agenda:https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.csmfo.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/03/03215814/Schedule-of-Sessions-Virtual-March-2022.pdf

https://vimeo.com/668024950

2022 Discover CSMFO | Virtual Sessions This is "2022 Discover CSMFO | Virtual Sessions" by CSMFO on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

Successful Leaders Value Serving Others

When leadership positions open in many organizations, they are filled with outstanding employees who possess excellent technical skills without much thought being given to how they will make the leap from doer to leader, follower to influencer, learner to teacher and trainer and co-worker to servant leader.

Read The Full Article Here: https://news.csmfo.org/2022/03/03/successful-leaders-value-serving-others/