PUBLIC SERVICE VALUES AND FINANCIAL REPORTING IN U.S. LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: Reconciling Transparency in External Financial Reporting with Political Expectations

The U.S. local government administrators can build trust and financial sustainability through transparency in financial reporting. Using a purposive sample of local governments, the chapter describes how the cities of Portland, Oregon, Redmond, Washington, the Town of Gilbert, Arizona, and Fort Collins, Colorado, can build trust and reconcile the public service core value of transparency in external financial reporting with the expectations of political actors. These local governments show how they translate public service values through transparency in external financial reporting into the financing of initiatives that citizens value. Moreover, financial transparency demonstrates how clear, consistent, and transparent external financial reporting can build trust and financial sustainability.