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The Origins of Good Disclosure: John Petersen and the GFOA Disclosure Guidelines  


Author:  Robert Dean  Pope.


Source: Volume 33, Number 04, Winter 2013 , pp.49-60(12)




Municipal Finance Journal

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Abstract: 

This paper discusses the history of the Disclosure Guidelines for State and Local Government Securities, especially the first (1976) edition and the role of John Petersen in the Guidelines’ creation and evolution. It reviews developments in municipal finance subsequent to the first publication of the Guidelines, including issues not addressed therein, but notes that the Guidelines have shaped the disclosure practices in use today and that they continue to provide valuable advice. The paper also expresses skepticism that municipal disclosure will be materially improved by granting the Securities and Exchange Commission additional powers or by the Commission’s specifying the content of required disclosure. It concludes with the assertion that the basic principles of good municipal disclosure as articulated by John Petersen over many years remain unaltered.

Keywords: Disclosure guidelines, disclosure practices, Securities and Exchange Commission, municipal finance

Affiliations:  .

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