Highlights
SEA Research Projects Receive Funding
AGA's Academy for Government Accountability Board of Trustees last week awarded funds to two research projects related to Service Efforts and Accomplishments. M. Bryna Sanger, Ph.D., professor of Urban Policy Analysis and Management at the Robert J. Milano School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City, received $24,480 for her project, Improving State and Local
Performance and Accountability: Understanding, Recognizing and Promoting Best Practices. Her ultimate goal is to increase public accountability through improved performance measurement and management.
Ken Smith, Ph.D., assistant professor of accounting at Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University in Salem, OR, received $9,900 to continue his research in evaluating performance by governments. The first phase of his project looked at state agencies in all 50 states and how they report performance. The second phase, Evaluating and Increasing the Quality of Performance Reporting, will examine performance reporting by more than 200 cities. The goal of his project is to help government agencies prepare and publicly share quality performance reports. Smith is a member of AGA's Willamette Valley Chapter. Congratulations to these two researchers!
Congratulations to the Latest Certificate of Achievement Recipients
Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services
Help with Performance Reporting Available
Is your government interested in taking the plunge into performance reporting? AGA and GASB can help. Contact Eveanna Barry if you would like someone to visit your entity for a one-on-one consultation.
January 2008 • Volume 2, Issue 1
Measuring Government Performance: Oklahoma Official Offers Tips
Early on, the Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA) Report at the Oklahoma Health Care Authority was a small, internal document produced in response to state budget requirements.
The Oklahoma Legislature requires agency budget requests to be accompanied by performance information. But the Health Care Authority has improved the reports since they began in 1999 and enlarged the vision for what they can achieve.
No longer are they seen as ways to fulfill a government mandate, but as tools to aid decision-makers, inform the public and increase efficiency of the state’s Medicaid program. “Slowly but surely, legislators are starting to use it as a reference, rather than just a budget tool,” said Carol McFarland, CGFM, CPA, a member of AGA's Oklahoma City Chapter and Performance & Internal Audit Manager at the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.
To government officials looking to start reporting performance, McFarland says the first step is to define your objective. Ask, why are you reporting this? “If it’s a mandate, it’s not very inspiring. If you want to provide valuable information to the public, then you’re talking about creating a report that is really going to be useful and valuable.” —by Christina Camara, AGA. Read more.
Former GASB Member Reviews AGA's SEA Program
AGA recently contracted with Cynthia Green, Ph.D., a former member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) to do an in-depth review of AGA’s Service Efforts and Accomplishments Program. Green, a member of AGA's New York Chapter, interviewed most of the recipients of the Certificate of Achievement and also many representatives of entities that had not earned the Certificate of Achievement. She also interviewed many report reviewers on how to make the process quicker and easier. While there were many kudos for the program, some recommendations will be incorporated into the program immediately. They were:
- Revise the entity application to include other organizations the entity is involved with, so that proper notification can be sent if the entity is a certificate winner.
- Redo the SEA website to make it more user friendly and comprehensive.
- Clarify eligibility to participate in the SEA Program. Confusion still exists over whether individual departments can apply to the program.
- Adjust one criterion in the AGA Guidelines to closely align with GASB’s criterion explanation.
Over the next few months you will be noticing other changes, such as a revision to the entity letter, revised instructions to the reviewers and a new Certificate of Participation. Stay tuned, and if you have any suggestions that might improve AGA’s program, please send your thoughts to Director of Performance Reporting Eveanna Barry at ebarry@agacgfm.org or 800.AGA.7211, ext. 324.
Palo Alto Citizens Like Their City
A Certificate of Achievement award winner for three years, Palo Alto, CA, recently conducted a citizen survey as part of its commitment to government accountability. The survey costs Palo Alto about $9,000 and is performed each year. Learn more about the analysis of the survey. Contact Sharon Erickson to get more details.
Reading on Government Performance
Interested in diversity outreach findings and results from a mid-sized city? Check out Vancouver, WA's website.
A monthly online report in Governing by Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, nationally known experts in government management, called The B&G Report, contains a plethora of interesting information on state and local governments that might just give you the idea you need to tackle a problem.
Other AGA links
Register for AGA's Sixth Annual National Leadership Conference, Feb. 21–22, 2008, Washington, D.C.
Bring New AGA-Sponsored Training Courses to Your Organization
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© 2008 Association of Government Accountants