Timeliness of an annual report is the number of days between a city or state's fiscal year-end and the date it publishes its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). For the publishing date, TIA uses the date on the letter of transmittal, which is typically found near the beginning of the ACFR.

It is crucial for citizens to have their government’s financial information in a timely manner. Due to the tardiness of Arizona, California, Iowa, Oklahoma and Nevada in releasing their financial reports, we were unable to include the newest data in our Financial State of the States 2023 report which was published in October 2023.  Last week we updated our data on Data-z.org to include the 2022 data from those five delinquent states.  

Most corporate financial reports are issued within 45 days of their respective fiscal year ends. The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) standard for states to publish their annual reports is 180 days after the end of the fiscal year. For FY 2022 the national average for publishing these reports was roughly 233 days.

There are internal difficulties and obstacles for states to reach this standard. The shortage of government accounts has recently become a big problem. However, timely financial information is critical so citizens, taxpayers, and legislators can be knowledgeable participants in crucial decision-making processes, such as voting and budgeting

Find out timely your state was on Data-z.org, and watch for our newest report with 2023 data to come out in September.