Highlights
Trailblazer Application Deadline Extended
The Center on Government Performance of the National Center for Civic Innovation has extended the application period for the third round of its Government Trailblazer Program. This program encourages local and county governments to engage the public in their performance measurement and reporting processes.
Awards will be made on a rolling basis through June 2009. It is to your advantage to submit your application as soon as possible since a limited number of stipends are available. Read more.
Performance Management in the News
Don't forget to sign up for the B&G Report from Governing magazine.
Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene provide a wealth of
information about what's happening around the country in the area of
government management.
The March 18 blog essay by Laura Price, CGFM, CPA, of KPMG LLP, The Role of Federal Financial Organization in Operational Planning and Performance Measurement, provides some interesting thoughts for state and local governments as well. She writes: "The finance organization can play an important part by helping managers better utilize financial information to effectively execute programs, reduce financial and compliance risk and communicate program results."
Read today's blog by Evie Barry, AGA's director of performance reporting, No Foolin’: What Do You Know about AGA’s Certificate of Achievement in Service Efforts and Accomplishments Report Review Program?
Mark Your Calendar
AGA's Fifth Annual Performance Management
Conference is scheduled for Nov. 5–6, 2009, at the W Hotel in Seattle.
AGA Needs SEA Reviewers
Do you want to know more about SEA Reports? Join your colleagues and be an SEA reviewer for the AGA Certificate of Achievement in SEA Report Review Program. You can learn more about how to prepare a performance report for your government by participating in the AGA program. Learn more about being a reviewer.
April 2009 • Volume 3, Issue 3
Measuring Government Performance: Sloan Foundation Winds Down Involvement
Ted Greenwood, Ph.D., has been on the front lines of performance reporting for more than 15 years, as his employer, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, has funded dozens of projects with the aim of demonstrating whether governments are doing a good job.
One of the Sloan Foundation’s goals is to make municipal governments more responsive to citizens, and Greenwood has been at the helm of performance reporting projects at Sloan since the very beginning, when many academics and government officials viewed it as a passing fad.
Performance measurement has proven to have staying power, and while it’s not as commonplace as Greenwood and other observers would have hoped, it’s gained an important foothold among municipal governments.
Greenwood believes the movement will grow, but it will have to happen without the financial backing of the Sloan Foundation, the leader in supporting assessment of public services across the country. The foundation has invested $43 million in government performance over 15 years. At its peak, Sloan was granting $4.5 million in projects every year. Sloan has funded AGA’s Service Efforts and Accomplishments program since its launch in 2003. —Christina Camara, AGA. Read more.
New Performance List Serv Available
One of AGA's friends in the field of performance reporting, and another Sloan-funded program, the National Center for Public Performance at Rutgers University, has established the Public Performance Measurement and Reporting Network. This list serv is designed for government officials and administrators, non-profit managers and other groups that focus on the measurement and improvement of public sector performance. The purpose of the network is to promote the use of valid, reliable data as a key element in improving the delivery of public services. Join this list serv to learn from the hundreds of members who are interested in the good government practices.
AGA'S SEA Program Has Re-Tuned Its Mission
The mission of AGA's Certificate of Achievement in Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA) Report Review Program is to encourage and help state and local governments prepare valuable and comprehensive SEA reports that inform the public, elected officials and management about their governments' efficient and effective use of taxpayer dollars. To that end, the program reviews reports and provides recommendations to strengthen the reports' ability to provide useful information and to recognize those governments that prepare exemplary reports through awards.
SEA: Taking Accountability and Transparency to a New Level Audio Conference CDs Available
Did you miss last week's audio conference, SEA: Taking Accountability and Transparency to a New Level? AGA Past National President Sam McCall, CGFM, CPA, CIA, city auditor of Tallahassee, FL, discussed “Support and Objections to GASB’s Performance Reporting Project.” McCall, who is finishing his Ph.D. in public administration, delved into the history of Service Efforts and Accomplishments, dating back to the late 19th century. He shared that the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) made the following statement in 1938: “In the private sector, the objective is to make a profit and to please the shareholder. However, profit is an incomplete measure in government; therefore it is necessary that other criteria be devised for the appraisal of governmental activities if the citizen, the legislator, and the administrator are to make intelligent decisions.”
Our second speaker, Ken Smith, Ph.D., CPA, assistant professor at Willamette University, focused his remarks on SEA research he has done over the past several years that were the impetus to create the ExPeRT website. The website was designed to support preparers and reviewers of performance reports. Along with AGA staff and his graduate students, Smith created an interactive website that can assist in determining if the GASB 16 Suggested Criteria are met in order to receive AGA’s Certificate of Achievement in SEA Reporting. Learn more.
Order a CD of this audio conference.
Additional Governments Produce Citizen-Centric Reports
The states of Washington, Texas and Maryland, Guilford County (NC), USAID, National Science Foundation, Idaho State Police and the City of Las Vegas (NM) are the latest governments to join a growing list of state and local governments and federal agencies who are producing four page citizen-centric reports.
AGA members believe that government accountability and transparency are essential to a healthy democracy and are committed to fulfilling our obligation to advance government accountability. As you know, this initiative is focused on compelling governments at all levels to improve how they present financial information to taxpayers, so that it is clear, accurate, up-to-date and easily accessible to all. In these tough economic times, it will take all our know-how, resources and courage to steer our way through to the sustainable fiscal accountability taxpayers expect and deserve.
AGA now offers a Certificate of Excellence in Citizen-Centric Reporting for governmental entities that prepare and distribute four-page reports that provide citizens with clear information on a government’s financial condition, its performance in providing services, and challenges it faces in the future. To be eligible for the Certificate of Excellence, governments must incorporate into their report the program’s high standards of content, visual appeal, readability, distribution and timeliness in reporting.
Questions? Contact Susan Fritzlen.
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© 2009 Association of Government Accountants