XBRL | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

News

U-M develops free tool to empower municipalities, modernize financial reporting

May 19, 2025

Free webinar June 4 will demo the Excel to iXBRL Conversion toolA free, open-source tool designed by the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy is now available to help local governments make financial data more accessible. Developed...

Photo of a stone building with a large "City Hall" sign

Alumni spotlight

Building tech to support small towns: U-M team develops digital tool for SEC compliance

May 9, 2025

When Congress passed the Financial Data and Transparency Act (FDTA) in 2022, it required all municipalities in the U.S. to modernize and digitize their financial reports. This is a heavy lift for small towns and school districts, most of which still...

Photo collage of Katrina Wheelan, an example budget, and screen shots from the conversion tool

State & Hill

Faculty news, spring 2024

Apr 24, 2024

Kamissa Camara chaired the Bipartisan Senior Study Group for the Sahel at the U.S. Institute of Peace. The study group’s comprehensive report critically assesses opportunities for peace, security, and economic development in the Sahel.Charlotte...

(Top row, left to right) Fullerton Rico, Hills, Holz, Jacob, and Leiser (Bottom row, left to right) Morenoff, Raimi, Shipan, Spencer, and Stevenson

In the Media

CLOSUP partnership with XBRL US, City of Flint highlighted

Mar 23, 2023 The Bond Buyer

CLOSUP, The Bond Buyer: "Flint is also at the forefront of the development of XBRL for financial reporting. Flint participated in a pilot project with the University of Michigan's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at the school's Ford School...

Weill Hall entrance with "Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy" etched into the glass

News

Leiser shares expertise on government financial reporting in webinar

Jan 29, 2023

The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) has been partnering with XBRL US, to work with the City of Flint to explore whether a new fiscal reporting mechanism for governmental entities can help create transparency—and prevent future...

In the Media

Leiser applauds Financial Data Transparency Act

Dec 26, 2022 XBRL US

Stephanie Leiser, XBRL US: "Making government financial data open and accessible to all is the right thing to do, and it is long overdue. Financial transparency is absolutely essential to maintaining trust between governments and the public. Equally...

Publication

New law on data transparency will improve governance - Leiser

Dec 20, 2022

Increasing transparency in how local government works got a boost when the U.S. Congress passed the Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) on December 15, 2022. The act requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt data standards related...

In the Media

Leiser on building a better local government financial reporting system

Aug 23, 2022 The Bond Buyer

Through a Michigan pilot program, Stephanie Leiser and the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy are building a taxonomy for machine-readable local government financial documents. "Transparency into local government fiscal health is needed...

News

CLOSUP in consortium launching review of Flint government financial data standards

Jun 15, 2022

Governments, standard setters, regulators and analysts encouraged to provide input A pilot project involving the University of Michigan and others is exploring whether a new fiscal reporting mechanism for governmental entities can help create...

Photo of a road and crosswalk in Flint near the University Pavillion

News

CLOSUP and Ivacko applauded for partnering with city of Flint

Dec 8, 2021

News outlets are applauding Tom Ivacko and the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy's announcement about a project with the city of Flint that will examine whether a new fiscal reporting mechanism can help create transparency in local fiscal...

News

University of Michigan and the City of Flint partner on new fiscal reporting pilot program for transparency, better governance

Dec 1, 2021

The water crisis in Flint and the bankruptcy in Detroit were separate events that had a common theme -- they had been caused in part by fiscal challenges decades in the making. Avoiding similar tragedies in the future could be tied to greater...

Photo of a large metal arch with a sign reading "Flint: Vehicle city" at a gateway to Flint, Michigan

Digitizing municipal financial reporting: A new open source tool for Excel - XBRL conversion

Jun 4, 2025, 3:00-4:30 pm EDT

The University of Michigan Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) teamed up with DAC Bond to develop a free, open source proof of concept tool that will allow users to convert the data in their Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports from Excel/Word format into XBRL, a leading open source data standard for financial reporting.

Government financial reporting - Data standards and the financial data transparency act

Jan 24, 2023, 3:00-4:00 pm EST

Join XBRL US for a session to explore government data standards, find out how governments can create their own machine-readable financial statements, and discover what impact this legislation could have on government entities. Most importantly, discover how machine-readable data standards can benefit state and local government entities by reducing costs and increasing access to time-sensitive information for policy making.