Getting a handle on our challenges. (President's Message).

During a recent finance conference I oversaw one of our colleagues reading a book entitled I Used to Have a Handle on Life but It Broke. This seems to have been a common theme for many finance officials over the past year. We have seen the accounting and auditing profession come under increasing public scrutiny. We have witnessed unprecedented terrorism at home and abroad. We have dealt with a slowing economy and, for many jurisdictions, a real loss of financial stability. These issues and many others point to the continued need for our profession to provide real and timely solutions to the complex problems that are impacting our communities and our daily lives.

GFOA's 96th Annual Conference in Denver gave many of us an opportunity to learn how our colleagues are facing and addressing these and many other issues of concern. I thank the many presenters, the GFOA staff, and the local conference committee for putting on such a tremendously successful conference.

I must admit that the highlight of the conference for me was taking the gavel from Past President Timothy Grewe and becoming president of this outstanding organization. As I told the delegates assembled at the business meeting, it is such a tremendous honor to be able to serve as president of the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. I am only able to do this because I know what tremendously talented individuals we have serving on the Executive Board and on the GFOA staff. With their help and yours, we will together strive to continue the tradition of excellence that has been established over the almost 100-year existence of our organization.

I am looking forward to an outstanding year for GFOA. The Executive Board plans to focus on several issues that have been identified as organizational priorities.

One of these priorities is performance measurement. During the annual business meeting in Denver, the GFOA membership adopted a policy statement on the Governmental Accounting Standards Board's role in performance measurement. This policy statement clearly expresses GFOA's unqualified support for the use of performance measures as a policymaking tool by individual units of government. GFOA will continue to seek opportunities to promote the use of performance measurement and to provide resources and training that will help governments effectively use this technique.

The policy statement also clearly expresses our fundamental opposition to the GASB's efforts to mandate or even recommend the use of performance measures to enhance accountability. We have strongly encouraged the GASB to return "to its proper role as an accounting and financial reporting standard-setting body." Real progress in performance measurement must come from governments themselves and the organizations that serve them.

Another priority that members have asked us to focus on is capital planning. Many of our jurisdictions and colleagues are being asked to do more than just identify funding alternatives for capital projects. They are being asked to evaluate the feasibility of these projects; to expand the time frames for capital improvement plans; to assess the economic impact of capital investment, redevelopment, and economic development; and even to purchase private infrastructure assets. Economic conditions are forcing us to make more choices as to how public funds can be leveraged to provide sustainable benefits to our communities. GFOA needs to take a leadership role in providing resources and recommended practices to our members that are confronting these difficult issues.

A third priority for the Executive Board will be to update GFOA's strategic plan. This process will give us the opportunity to look with GFOA staff at the ongoing needs that you have identified as the GFOA membership and to focus on how we can work to address those needs. We also will look to strengthen our partnerships with state, provincial, and international organizations that share our goals and objectives. One of the key ways that we can help each other is by seeking out best and emerging practices and by identifying those ideas that work and those that do not.

I believe that as finance professionals we provide a vital public service. This year will present many challenges to each of us as we continue working to provide the best possible services to our communities. We must proactively seek out opportunities to improve our ability to meet these challenges. It is my hope that GFOA will continue to provide you with the resources, training, and materials you need to be successful.

I am already looking forward to the opportunity to hear about your successful responses to the challenges you have faced when we meet at the 97th Annual Conference in New York next May. By helping each other, I hope that next year we will all be able to say, "It may have been broke, but I am getting a handle on it!"

GFOA President W. PATRICK PATE is assistant city manager of the City of High Point, North Carolina.