AGA TOPICS Newsletter
From the
National President
Jeffrey
S. Hart, CGFM, CFE
Happy New
Year! I’d like to begin this new year by sharing two very exciting
happenings for AGA. First, we have the confirmation of the
Governmental Accounting Standards
Board’s (GASB)
jurisdiction
concerning
performance reporting. Second, is my trip to meet with our sister
association in Canada. I can hardly express just how grateful I am
to be serving as your National President at this particularly
exciting time!
On November
28, 2006, the Board of Trustees of the Financial Accounting
Foundation (FAF) confirmed that the GASB has the jurisdictional
authority to include “service efforts and accomplishments” in its
financial accounting and reporting standard-setting activities for
state and locals.
I also see the FAF’s action as an
important affirmation of AGA’s work to improve performance
reporting.
I was proud
to sign a letter to the FAF strongly supporting the
continuation of GASB’s work in this area. As I’ve said before, I
believe that AGA’s two performance measurement and reporting
programs—our Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting
(CEAR) for federal agencies, and our Certificate of Excellence in
Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA) Reporting for state and
local government entities—are a critical part of the future of AGA
and our profession. The FAF’s decision is a powerful shot in the arm
for our efforts to improve and expand government performance
measurement and reporting, and will
provide real value to the American people.
For those of you who may not know,
our SEA Program encourages state and local governments to regularly
issue high-quality, comprehensive reports of the government’s
service efforts and accomplishments, consistent with the criteria
suggested by GASB. Our SEA Program helps state and local governments
strengthen their reports through an extensive review and feedback
process, and recognizes the best reports with a Certificate of
Achievement. Our CEAR Program accomplishes a similar goal
for federal agencies.
As you may
recall, one of the key tenets in my plan for this year is to ensure
AGA remains a model for all the important things we stand for.
Obviously, performance measurement and reporting is one of those
things. In that spirit, I have asked our National Office to meet a
performance reporting deadline similar to that of federal agencies.
That means we will complete our annual performance and
accountability report (PAR) within 45 days after the end of our
program year. In our case, that’s August 15, 2007. Making this
AGA policy is consistent with our stated AGA value of “integrity” in
that it will ensure that we consistently walk our talk.
We will also
walk our talk in the preparation of AGA’s next PAR. I have asked our
National Office to apply those portions of our CEAR and SEA
performance reporting criteria that we believe apply to a nonprofit
organization like AGA. I have also asked that we have one of our SEA
review teams evaluate our next PAR after it is completed. I expect we
will benefit from the same thoughtful and valuable feedback that we give to
federal, state and local governments that participate in our
performance reporting programs. I also think that this process can
be the first step toward demonstrating how similar criteria might be
developed and used to evaluate PARs developed by other nonprofit
organizations, which I envision as a huge new potential market and
customer for AGA.
In November,
I attended a portion of the annual professional development
conference and national board meeting of our Canadian sister
association, the Financial Management Institute (FMI). I was invited
to attend FMI’s meetings by our Canadian friends when they visited
our PDC
in San Diego last summer. The purpose of these visits is to build
relationships with our colleagues in other countries as part of the
initiative I announced last winter to expand AGA’s influence
internationally. As I’ve said before, I think AGA has much to
contribute to enhancing strong financial management and
accountability around the world, and thereby helping to build or
maintain healthy and vibrant democracies everywhere.
Thank you again for allowing me to
serve you and our profession. I look forward to seeing many of you
at our Fifth Annual National Leadership Conference next month. I
hope you are as excited as I am about the new year ahead of us!
Let's
Stay Excited!
Jeff Hart
AGA National President