How do States Rank in CAFR Reporting?
The federal government and most corporate financial reports are issued within forty-five days of their respective FYEs. Many question why states cannot meet this goal. Our interviews with people who have state government accounting experience reveal that most believe it would be impossible to prepare a state CAFR in less than ninety days, much less forty-five days. Besides the internal difficulties of accumulating and auditing the necessary financial information, obstacles outside the CAFR preparer’s control may exist. For example, the federal government is slow at reimbursing state Medicaid costs. This makes it difficult to determine the amount the state owes its medical providers at FYE. The state of Michigan uses estimates to work around these types of issues. In other cases, proposed legislation may affect the FYE financial data, forcing the CAFR preparers to wait until the legislation is signed (or not signed) into law before the CAFR may be completed. In summary, the GFOA 180-day
