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Telling Your StoryMeasure What You Manage thru

Performance Reporting

Julie V. Bryant, MBA, CPA, CGFMAGA: Director of Performance Reporting

May 2, 2006

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AGENDA

• Historical Perspectives

• Putting it all together

• Performance Reporting Issues

• AGA’s Role in Performance Reporting

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Historical Perspective

• Countries first 250 years focused on Budget Execution

• Now Budget Execution is supplemented with reliable financial and program information

• Now not only managing cash flow

• Managing for program results

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Historical Perspective (cont.)

• Program managers always worked hard to achieve results

• Financial managers always worked hard to record financial events

• Budget managers always worked hard to fund programs that were consistent with President’s Management Agenda

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Putting It All Together

• By merging all of this hard work and reliable information managers can make informed decisions

• Moving from anecdotal evidence to solid verifiable evidence

• Leading towards working as a management team

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What really is Performance and Accountability Reporting

• Performance and [SEA]

• Accountability [end game]

• Reporting [CEAR]

• Federal Government got right– Completeness

– Reliability or Auditability

• GASB got right– Relevance

– Readability

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AGA’s Role• Strong proponent for accountability

– Mission Statement: AGA serves government accountability professionals by providing quality education, fostering professional development and certification, and supporting standards

and research to advance government accountability. • CFO Council initially requested AGA to

review Federal agency Performance and Accountability Reports—CEAR Program

• Sloan Foundation request to consider similar program for state and local governments

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Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reports

SEA

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Suggested Criteria for Service Efforts & Accomplishments Report

• GASB’s Focus on Managing for Results– Strategic Planning (planning for results)

– Program Planning (planning operations)

– Developing meaningful performance measures

– Budgeting for Results

– Collecting/using information to manage

– Evaluating and responding to results

– Reporting Results (accountability)

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Three Categories of Suggested Criteria

• The external report on performance

• The performance information to support

• Communication of the performance information

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External Report on Performance

• Purpose and scope • Major goals and objectives statement • Involvement in establishing goals and

objectives • Multiple levels of reporting • Analysis of results and challenges • Focus on key measures • Reliable information

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Relevant Performance Information

• Relevant measures of results• Resources used and efficiency• Citizen and customer perceptions• Comparisons for assessing

performance• Factors affecting results• Aggregation and disaggregation of

information• Consistency

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Communication of the Performance Information

• Easy to find, access, and understand [AGA guidelines are broken into two parts A and B]

• Regular and timely reporting

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Additional Guidance• Primarily for Preparers• GASB’s suggested criteria and AGA program are intended for

reports of performance issued to the public. • If a report is not made available to the public, it can be reviewed

and recommendations provided, but a Certificate will not be awarded.

• Reports submitted for review should be complete, final copy of the report as issued to the public. Parts of reports or photocopies cannot be reviewed effectively.

• Summary reports can be reviewed in conjunction with the full report, provided reports refer to each other.

• Reports that are available only on the Internet can be reviewed, provided organization submits the report on a CD-ROM.

• Reports prepared by organization’s auditor, rather than management, will be reviewed using the same criteria and guidelines.

• Organizations submitting a report for review can, but are not required to submit a completed copy of the Guidelines noting pages on which each criterion has been addressed.

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Noteworthy Features

• Summary each year of positive items raised by reviewers– By Criteria– By submitting entity

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Recognition from the Two Certificate of Excellence

Programs• One program for Federal reports

– CEAR

– Certificate of Excellence

– Presented at Ceremony—black tie dinner

• Another program for state and local reporting– SEA

– Certificate of Achievement (for now)

– Presented at Annual Performance Management Conference Awards Luncheon

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Performance Reporting Issues

• Preparers

• Readers

• Analytics

• Availability

• Accuracy or precision

• Cost/Benefit

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Preparers

• Who can prepare the most balanced and credible reports– Agency Head [tone from the top]

– CFO– Program Managers [managing for results]

– Budget office [setting public policy]

– Independent Office– Auditors [appraisal]

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Readers

• Program Managers [MFR]

• Division Directors [MFR]

• Agency Head [MFR]

• OMB [public policy]

• Congress [Authorizers, Appropriators]

• Citizens [interest varies by demographics]

• Others [other countries, regulators]

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Analysis

• So what does it mean?– Federal government

• No comparables, • Relies on trends and targets• No citizen input

– State and Local• Some comparable jurisdictions• No one size fits all, defining measures• i.e. college town versus coal town

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Availability

• Internal Management: ad hoc

• External– Newspapers– Official printed reports– Web [easily found not buried]– Soft copies

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Accuracy vs Precision

• Results stated as point estimate

• Results stated as high-low

• Results stated as range

• Results disaggregated

• Use of estimates in performance data

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Cost/Benefit

• Currently at fairly high cost

• What are the benefits?– Program managers: operating

decisions and personnel appraisals– Budget managers: justifications– Citizen Accountability???????

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Accountability

• Answering to taxpayers/citizenry• May lead to public debate• Understanding of consequences of

public policy and operating decisions

• Implementing elected officials’ decisions made on their behalf…compliance with laws and regulations

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Open for discussion

• Guidelines available on• www.agacgfm.org/performance• Or Contact Julie V. Bryant

jbryant@agacgfm.org • or 703-684-6931 ext 307