"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.

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.

One-party rule in action: According to the group Truth in Accounting, Chicago continues to live up to its moniker “Second City” in at least one respect: it has thesecond-worstdebt load of any big city in America—about $43,000 per taxpayer, or almost $40 billion in total.

Originally from Azerbaijan, Zahra is currently pursuing a master's degree in Accounting, Technology, and Analytics at the University of Denver, and works hard to help Truth in Accounting complete our research and reports.

It’s a scene playing out in city halls across the United States — leaders gathering to confront a $288 billion black hole of debt threatening to bankrupt dozens of the nation’s largest municipalities. The mood is grim as the true scale of the crisis is laid bare.

In 2015, Truth in Accounting laid out two doomsday scenarios for the finances of the U.S. federal government. Almost ten years later, let's look at an update.

— GRADING CHICAGO: Truth in Accounting, an Illinois-based group that works to improve accounting standards in government, is out with its annual “Financial State of the Cities” report today. Among the findings: Chicago’s financial condition worsened more than $206 million despite increased tax collections and federal Covid relief funds.

AARP Illinois took a proactive step toward safeguarding the future of Social Security by hosting an panel discussion titled “Conversations with Chicago Leaders – A Discussion About Building Wealth and the Future of Social Security.” The event, held on May 9 at the CME Center/ZO Clubhouse, aimed to ignite a comprehensive dialogue among city leaders about the critical need for bipartisan solutions to ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security.

A national group dedicated to honest accounting and citizen education is not sold on Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan’s plan for the Jaguars‘ stadium.

Sheila A. Weinberg, the founder of Truth in Accounting, says the city is neglecting fiscal realities in favor of speculative and elective spending.

In response to the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA), a groundbreaking bill enacted in December 2022 mandating the digitization and standardization of financial data reported by municipal bond issuers. The Truth in Accounting project at the University of Denver secured a grant through the Mercatus Center to complete a research initiative aimed at evaluating the feasibility of implementing these new standards for special district governments. Special district governments, including entities such as Hospital/Health, Fire Protection, Metropolitan, and School districts, often present unique challenges in representing their financial statements due to the diverse array of line items they report.

When arguing about whether the Treasury needed to take urgent action to deal with soaring federal debt in the 1980s, the late former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Herb Stein coined Stein’s Law. It was simple and obvious: “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”