Government Organizations We Serve
  • Airports
  • Transportation authorities
  • Municipalities
  • State agencies
  • Public utilities
  • Convention organizations
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Association

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Center

Government Accountability Office

White House Office of
Management and Budget

Office of Inspector General and
the National Intergovernmental
Audit Forum

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Government

BKD Not-for-Profit & Government Group helps many governmental entities with fiscal accountability, resource management, performance measurement, budgeting, debt administration and other issues.

BKD is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Governmental Audit Quality Center whose members have demonstrated a commitment to governmental audit quality and to raising awareness about the importance of such audits.

Solutions like the following can help your governmental organization determine the most effective way to deliver services and meet fiduciary and regulatory compliance requirements.

Financial Accountability

Governmental entities have a fiduciary duty to be financially accountable to the public and their constituencies. As such, you need more meaningful financial statements and presentations that clearly demonstrate your effectiveness at providing services to the public. Our assurance advisors can help you:
BKD's personnel from staff to partner that I've worked with are very professional and consider the operations and timelines of the agency personnel in their planning. They are willing to discuss issues and accounting treatments in an open method while ensuring that the standards are met. The comments and recommendations are helpful and have assisted the city in making improvements.
— Beth Machann, City Controller
City and County of Denver
Denver, Colorado
  • Produce easy-to-interpret board and council monthly reporting packages
  • Implement new accounting standards
  • Prepare meaningful financial statements and assist with internal audits
  • Educate your governing body about fiduciary and accounting issues
  • Strengthen internal controls
  • Assist in preparing your Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
  • Assess processes or operations for effectiveness or efficiency
  • Assess payroll tax and benefit reporting

Resource Management

Whether yours is a local, city, county or state governmental entity or an enterprise fund that supports airport and transportation systems, convention and tourism facilities or utility services, you need to effectively deliver services and also meet fiduciary and regulatory compliance requirements. Sometimes the only way to provide the same or increased level of services is by finding new sources of revenue and evaluating the costs of existing programs. BKD can help:
  • Explore alternative revenue sources
  • Develop cost allocation plans to accurately capture costs of programs
  • Build a case for indirect cost rate adjustments
  • Analyze and forecast cash flows
  • Perform feasibility studies and financial projections
  • Perform operational reviews of staffing, organizational structure and information flow
  • Determine the total cost of providing a particular service or program

Performance Measurement

Performance measurement is a useful policymaking and reporting tool that provides greater detail about your entity’s performance than traditional budgets and financial reporting. That’s important in light of the public’s demand for timely, meaningful, reliable information on the costs and outcomes of governmental services.

You can improve the reliability and usefulness of this information with our help:

  • Design a process for using performance measures to guide management decisions
  • Measure outcomes to build accountability
  • Verify reliability of performance measures
  • Design reports to communicate outcomes to your constituencies

Budgeting

A strong budgeting process is critical to your entity’s success and must address the long-term financial implications of current and proposed policies, programs and assumptions. Our accountants and consultants are experienced with budgeting best practices, including those endorsed by the National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting (NACSLB). We can help:
  • Develop realistic budgets
  • Prepare cash-flow projections
  • Develop a zero-based budgeting process
  • Evaluate the budgeting process
  • Perform gap analysis of NACSLB best practices

Debt Administration

Creative financing solutions, including privatization partnerships, can create incentives for efficiency, improve customer service, enhance revenues and cut costs. BKD can help you evaluate and implement successful financing strategies. Specifically, we can:
The City of Fayetteville's BKD auditors are a very experienced and knowledgeable group of individuals. Complementing these qualities is the fact that they are always accessible and helpful when I have questions. I would highly recommend BKD to anyone in need of auditors with expertise in the governmental arena.
— Marsha Farthing,
Accounting Manager
City of Fayetteville
Fayetteville, Arkansas
  • Identify potential financing alternatives
  • Perform feasibility studies, revenue projections and forecasts
  • Translate complex bond indentures and other similar debt-related documents into practical accounting steps
  • Prepare escrow verifications, arbitrage rebate calculations and other agreed-upon procedures demonstrating compliance with legal requirements
  • Evaluate municipal leasing structures and privatization options
  • Develop, solicit and implement performance-based contracts

For More Information

Contact your BKD advisor or:

Debi Ladyman
BKD Not-for-Profit & Government Group Leader
888.476.7258