2026 Registration

Join us for the 2026 IGFOA Annual Conference
Finance Forward: Insight, Innovation, and Impact
Monday, September 28 - Wednesday, September 30, 2026 

The conference takes place at the Marriott Bloomington-Normal Hotel & Conference Center and features multiple pre-conference workshops, keynotes, great speakers, a fabulous vendor showcase, raffle prizes, a fun social event and more.

IGFOA 2026 Annual Conference CPE
Conference attendees can earn up to 10.5 CPE credits. Add on pre-conference works for an additional 2.5 CPE credits. 

I'm There!

Pre-Conference Seminars
Select two out of four different seminars to boost your knowledge. All seminars take place Monday morning, September 28. Each seminar is $50.00
9 AM - 10:15 AM Rethinking Materiality
Materiality plays a central role in financial reporting, yet it is often treated as a narrow technical judgment rather than an ongoing management discipline. When applied thoughtfully, materiality helps focus effort on information that matters to those who use the information. It also helps avoid effort wasted on low-value detailed accounting. Rethinking materiality does not entail relaxing standards or reducing accountability. It reduces low value work so finance officers can focus on what matters to their communities. This session will show how to apply materiality as a process. By treating materiality as a process rather than a single technical test, governments can better align reporting effort with decision relevance.
9 AM - 10:15 AM Capital Planning and Funding Infrastructure in Rural and Small Cities
In partnership, the Illinois Finance Authority (IFA) and the Public Finance Initiative (PFI) propose an educational pre-conference session focused on strengthening capital planning and funding infrastructure in Illinois. Capital planning–defined as a strategy to plan, fund, build, acquire, maintain, and transition all natural, capital, and infrastructure assets–provides a crucial framework for governments to assess needs, prioritize projects, and identify funding sources to invest in capital projects. Capital planning has a major impact on service provision, economic vitality, and overall quality of life in communities. Recognizing that rural and small communities often face systemic barriers to investments, the session aims to help local leaders take meaningful steps toward capital planning and consider how to situate capital programs in a long-term financial plan. Experts from the Government Finance Officers Association, Illinois Finance Authority, and the Public Finance Initiative will share strategies, best practices, and real-world examples on how to strengthen capital planning, conduct asset inventories, and examine the range of public finance strategies available to Illinois local governments to fund infrastructure.
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM From Insight to Action: Finance Forward Strategies for Utility Rate Setting
Setting utility rates is a complex and increasingly challenging process. Utility leaders must balance affordability and equity for customers while ensuring rates are sufficient to recover the full cost of service—including funding critical capital investments and maintaining long term financial sustainability. At the same time, evolving customer usage patterns, conservation efforts, and economic pressures make forecasting future revenues more difficult than ever. This session will explore current and emerging trends in utility rate setting and highlight common challenges utilities face in aligning rates with costs. The City of St. Charles recently conducted a study for all 3 utilities (water, sewer, and electric) taking into account rising operating costs, unfunded capital project mandates, including lead service line replacements, declining consumption usage while balancing the existing and future debt obligations the City would need to consider. The session will also showcase GFOA resources that can support more transparent, defensible, and sustainable rate setting decisions.
10:30 AM - 11:45 AM Artificial Intelligence 101
This session provides a practical introduction to artificial intelligence (AI) for municipal and finance professionals, with a focus on real-world applications and near-term impact. The presentation will cover the fundamentals of AI, including key concepts, major technology providers, and the current strengths and limitations of modern AI systems. Participants will gain insight into how AI is being adopted across organizations today, with specific examples relevant to government and finance functions such as budgeting, reporting, data analysis, and citizen services. The session will also explore how municipalities can begin preparing their existing technology infrastructure and data environments to support AI adoption. By the end of the session, participants will be able to explain core AI concepts, identify relevant use cases within their organizations, evaluate their municipality's readiness for AI implementation, and apply best practices for responsible and effective AI adoption.

 For additional pre-conference seminar information, click here.

Seminar Sign-up

Annual Conference

The Annual Conference will kick-off on Monday, September 28, 2026 at 1 PM! Program highlights include an engaging and insightful keynote session. The rest of the educational program includes general sessions and concurrent tracks. All in-person sessions are CPE eligible. 

For a complete description of the educational programs please click here.