There is a noticeable shortage of accountants in the United States. 

The shortage is even affecting our work. Six states still need to file their 2023 annual comprehensive financial reports. We analyze those reports for our yearly Financial State of the State report. We have heard more than once that one of the reasons for the delay is a need for accountants. 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a 6% growth rate in employment for accountants and auditors from 2021 to 2031, which is faster than the average for all occupations. This growth reflects the increasing demand for accounting professionals. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Without reforms, exploding federal debt will generate a major economic crisis. Technically, the solution to the problem is simple (cut spending), but there is no consensus on what political approach or legal mechanisms are needed to avert the coming crisis.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is not ruling out a loan to cover a Chicago Public Schools deficit of $500 million. There is no official answer on how the mayor will fill the budget gap, after he rejected cuts proposed by CPS administrators.

California — a state whose officials love to tout it as the world’s fifth largest economy — is late producing a report on its own financial health for the sixth year in a row.

This impending crisis may lack the recent drama that the balanced budget requirement periodically imposes. But if the growing problem of Californians paying too much money for sub-par government services is left unaddressed, the foundations for a prosperous economy will be undermined.

The easiest way to avoid debt is through prudent policies in which the state’s annual domestic spending is substantially less over time than the state’s annual gross domestic product, a sort of economic husbandry Connecticut has not practiced for decades.

However, Philadelphia also ranked near the bottom, 72 out of 75, for cities ranked for how well they’re run by Truth in Accounting.

That organization found the city needs $11.2 billion to pay bills and has a taxpayer burden of $20,400 per taxpayer. Meaning if all bills were to be paid in one year, that’s how much each taxpayer would owe. Truth in Accounting gave Philadelphia a grade of “F.”

"The state doesn't have money sitting around that can be used for settlements like this," said Sheila A. Weinberg, founder and CEO of Truth in Accounting. "To pay for this settlement, taxes will have to be raised or services and benefits will have to be cut. The other option is to even underfund the pension and retiree health care benefits even more."

Hawaii is the first to settle a climate change lawsuit, but it may not be the last. The case may set a precedent in other states where young people have filed lawsuits over climate concerns, according to an op-ed written by Cara Horowitz, executive director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the institute's communications director, Evan George.

A report by the nonprofit organization Truth in Accounting arrived the week early voting started for the Longview mayoral election in May.

That assessment, though, was based off old information and uses a standard that Truth in Accounting established that measures government finances differently than is accepted practice.

Have you ever wondered which cities in America are grappling with poor management, inefficient services, and financial struggles? Some cities suffer serious administrative woes, from ballooning budgets to crumbling infrastructures. These are the cities where mismanagement and chaos reign supreme.

Dallas Cothrum: An 8-point plan for the next Dallas city manager: stop virtue signaling, control spending, improve customer service, break down silos,...

But some states continue to fail, year after year. Illinois’s pension problem is so severe that pension payments will consume 20 percent of its general funds this fiscal year, yet it is still contributing $4.5 billion less than it should. Illinois has unfunded pension benefits totaling $146 billion. New Jersey’s public-pension system is several times more generous than a typical 401(k), and despite the state’s making its scheduled pension payments the last few years, it is still nowhere close to solvency.

ADDENDUM: Check out this state-by-state pension database from Truth in Accounting to see how your state is doing.

Includes "Not surprisingly, Truth in Accounting, a nonprofit group, earlier this year gave Dallas a sobering D grade for its finances, placing it alongside Houston and Austin toward the bottom of the class."