Opportunities and Challenges of Real-Time Financial Reporting

Adoption Models for State and Municipal Governments

B. Anthony Billings, PhD, and Brooke Billings, and Buagu G. N. Musazi, PhD, CPA

In BriefThis article reviews the implementation of real-time reporting by state and municipal governmental units as a model for analyzing these emerging technologies. While the implementation of real-time reporting presents several challenges, it offers many opportunities that may make it feasible for many municipal governments. The challenges include the complex and cumbersome process of integrating an entity's different data warehouses and the significant costs of implementation. Notwithstanding this, real-time reporting provides benefits, such as flexibility in the customization of data to facilitate business decision making on a real-time basis, fraud prevention, and audit efficiency.