Disaster Financial Management Guide

Effective disaster financial management is critical for successful response and recovery. It helps jurisdictions obtain the resources needed to support their communities, increases the efficiency of recovery efforts and reduces the likelihood of audits and financial penalties for the jurisdiction. Fiscal and grant regulations are strict and apply to all jurisdictions, regardless of size, so it is imperative that all jurisdictions have robust scalable, flexible and adaptable disaster financial management plans and processes in place pre-disaster for all types of incidents.

This document helps jurisdictions (e.g., state, local, tribal and territorial governments) establish and implement sound disaster financial management practices. It identifies the foundational Skills and Capabilities (Section 2) needed for successful disaster financial management and provides an overview of key Disaster Financial Management Activities (Section 3) that jurisdictions can complete before, during and after a disaster to support sound disaster financial management.