what are municipal bonds 
municipal bonds are debt securities they re offered by governments to raise funds to pay for their day to day operations and major projects such as building infrastructure and schools the money is returned to the purchaser at the bond s maturity date and interest is paid regularly during the period of ownership many of these governments follow gaap but some use other methods of accounting the bottom linethe governmental accounting standards board gasb creates and maintains standards for accounting by state and local governments through the implementation of the generally accepted accounting principles gaap this provides investors consumers and legislators with a level of confidence that the financial reporting of applicable companies is true transparent and reliable correction may 4 2024 a previous version of this article referred to the gasb as the government accounting standards board it s been revised to cite the correct name which is the governmental accounting standards board 