Home      Login

Abstract: 

Guest editor Mark D. Robbins offered to organize a panel on municipal securities at last year’s annual conference of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management. This issue features a symposium based on the results of that panel, with three articles that highlight the useful role of research in aiding sound municipal bond issuance. In addition to the symposium, finance professor Lisa M. Fairchild addresses a core issue in the municipal market today: Are federal disclosure requirements beneficial? She finds empirical evidence that Rule 15c2-12 makes a difference, in a paper that deserves attention by all who question the value of recent Securities and Exchange Commission initiatives. Financial consultant Laurence H. Wadler introduces revenue curve analysis. Specifically, he focuses on the implications of structuring decisions on the capacity of a revenue stream to support debt and, in the process, proffers an innovative perspective on the problem. In addition to the five individual articles listed above, the complete issue also includes the accounting developments column, in which accounting professor Catherine L. Staples reviews the recent activities of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board; and the tax law developments column by attorneys Olivia Shay-Byrne and Matthew G. McLaughlin, who examine the Empowerment Zone bond program. They detail the eligibility requirements and recent actions that encourage use of these innovative structures.

Keywords: Municipal Bond Issuance; Financial Certification; Maturity Structure; Disclosure Rules; Revenue Curve Analysis

Affiliations:  1: Wichita State University; 2: University of Georgia.