PhAMAS

Presentation

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

What Every Analyst Needs to Know about Government Accounting - Presented by Dean Michael Mead

~ Offered by PhAMAS in conjunction with the NFMA's Introduction to Municipal Bond Credit Analysis ~

Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2025

Time: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
Check-In/Breakfast: 7:30 am

Location:

Ballard Spahr LLP
1735 Market Street, 5th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Description: 

An understanding of the principles of governmental accounting and financial reporting is an essential tool in the municipal analyst’s toolbox. This plain-language seminar is geared to the non-accountant – the person who uses financial statement information meaningfully for analyzing creditworthiness and making decisions – emphasizing the meaning of the information over debits and credits. It is ideal both for analysts who are relatively new and those with more experience who are looking for a refresher.

The seminar will explain how the numbers in the financial statements got there, making transparent the process by which transactions and events become assets, liabilities, deferrals, revenues, expenses, fund balance, and so on. The seminar also will explain the components of each of the required financial statements, as well as major note disclosures and supporting schedules, such as those related to pensions and retiree health insurance, capital assets, and outstanding debt. The seminar will encompass both taxing entities such as counties, cities, school districts, and special district and business-type entities such as universities, hospitals, utilities, transit systems, and toll roads. Topics covered in the seminar include:

•     How governments determine what to account for – assets, liabilities, etc., with a particular focus on deferrals
•     How governments determine when to report them – recognition
•     How governments determine how much to report for them – measurement
•     Exchange, exchange-like, and nonexchange transactions
•     The boundaries of the government that the financial report covers – the financial reporting entity
•     Financial statements
•     Major note disclosures
•     Required supplementary information and supplementary information
•     Recent additions to the financial statements, including leases, P3s, and similar transactions

Speaker:

Dean Michael Mead is a Partner and Government & Public Sector Sub-Line Leader at CRI Advisors (CRI), a top-25 nationally ranked accounting and consulting firm. Prior to joining CRI, Dean was on the staff of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) for 24 years, most recently as Assistant Director of Research and Technical Activities. He also was an adjunct member of the Accounting and Information Systems faculty at Rutgers Business School, where he taught governmental accounting, auditing, and financial statement analysis. Dean was the author of the GASB’s award-winning User Guides and is a recipient of the NFMA’s Award for Excellence for his efforts to educate the municipal bond community through teaching and writing. He is a long-time member of NFMA and a member of the board of directors of the Southern Municipal Finance Society. He currently serves as the NFMA's member on the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council, the GASB's principal advisory body.

Materials: The GASB’s An Analyst’s Guide to Government Financial Statements, 3rd Edition is available free online and can be accessed here: AN ANALYST'S GUIDE TO GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—3RD EDITION (MARCH 2018). Handout versions of the presentation slides will be distributed to attendees the week prior to the seminar.

Cost: $50. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. 

Program: DOWNLOAD HERE

Registration: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. Space for this event is limited, so please register as early as possible. Registration will close on November 5, 2025.

Questions: Please contact Ellen Cannarsa with any questions.

The Philadelphia Area Municipal Analyst Society (PhAMAS) is a not-for-profit association with members located in the Philadelphia region, including southern New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.