In March 2010, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation (HCER) bill. These major legislative health care reform initiatives, along with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, clearly strengthen the federal government’s role as the major market influence on health care policy, coverage, delivery, and reimbursement. Over the next four years, PPACA will expand Medicaid significantly, subsidize insurance premiums, and provide incentives for businesses to provide health care insurance.

While there were many diverse problems that led to the recent financial crisis, one of the key tipping points was the implosion of Lehman Brothers due to liquidity issues. Liquidity risk is a fluid, dynamic area of risk with great impact on financial institutions. It has just as much potential to bring down a bank as credit risk or market risk, and deserves a measurement and management regime that is just as rigorous.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 51, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Intangible Assets (“GASB 51" or the “Statement") in June 2007, which establishes accounting and financial reporting requirements for intangible assets in an effort to enhance comparability of such assets between state and local governments.