Yesterday, the State of New York posted its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for fiscal 2015 (March) to its website. The CAFR includes a letter of transmittal, addressed in part to the Citizens of New York.
But that letter of transmittal is dated September 1, 2015. Over 30 days ago.
New York isn’t alone, on this score -- among states, as well as cities.
Who gets this stuff first? How is it distributed?
We try to track the timeliness of state and local government financial reporting closely. We rely on the date on the letter of transmittal. But we’ve noticed that those letters of transmittal dates aren’t necessarily when the reports are posted to the web – there can be significant lags.
Not only in posting to the web, but when the report is available, period. Chicago did not release its latest CAFR until a couple weeks after a legally required deadline, yet with a date on the letter of transmittal on the day it was theoretically due.
In the private sector, what can happen if a publicly-traded company releases its financial statements like this?
One thing that can happen is that the information might be disseminated selectively, with opportunities for trading on the information. Unless laws against this behavior exist, and are enforced.
Opportunities like this can arise in the municipal bond market, too.
I’m not saying this is what happened, in the New York or other cases. And New York released audited financial statements for 2015 a couple months ago, before the CAFR.
But questions do seem open.