Publications
Letters for providing guidance to the political leadership from the Coalition for Effective Change:
Re: Under representation of Hispanics in the federal workforce:
Read letter | Read Executive Order 13171
Association of Government Accountants
PAR - The Report We Hate to Love- In December of 2004 AGA and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) undertook a cooperative research project to determine the usefulness of Performance and Accountability Reports (PARs) for their intended audiences, and how that usefulness can be improved.
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Financial Management Shared Services: A Guide for Federal Users - IBM sponsored this project to identify best practices in shared services of federal agency financial management operations. The project identifies best practices in selecting services to share, managing the transition, setting up service arrangements, governance, service level agreements, and other aspects of the business arrangement. The project had three phases: research of existing literature; interviews with selected subject matter experts and surveys sent out to other interested parties; and finally, a report summarizing recommendations and containing suggestions as to best practice. The research was conducted by Irwin T. (Ted) David, CGFM, with the aid of AGA’s Director of Research.
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Audit Federal Financial Controls: Sooner Rather than Later? - This report is the product of a research project, sponsored by AGA Professional Corporate Partner Kearney & Company, aimed at evaluating and assessing current internal control procedures and reporting in the federal community, and the potential impact of Sarbanes Oxley on the government community. The research, primarily carried out by Cornelius Tierney, author of the Federal Accounting Handbook, included identifying internal control reporting alternatives, existing standards, guidance, and current practices, and providing recommendations on reporting on internal controls. The report provides recommendations on internal control reports, applicable standards, and timing. We hope you find it a useful contribution to the debate about internal controls.
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2006 CFO Study: Advancing Federal Financial Management - For the past five years, the federal financial community has been progressing steadily in meeting improvement goals and participating in related initiatives established by President George W. Bush’s Administration. These include the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) and the Lines of Business initiative, both managed by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB).* In 2006, the community has realized that major changes are about to happen, including migrating agency- and department-level functions to shared services arrangements called Shared Service Centers (SSCs, formerly called Centers of Excellence). Although most survey participants support in principle the financial management goals and initiatives of the Administration, many of them are worried about the details of implementing SSCs and about life under this type of working arrangement. Read Report
Trends in Technology, is the third in a planned series of studies covering areas of interest to our members. Trends in Technology is an annual report on emerging issues in information technology and financial management. The study covers compliance management, business process management, project portfolio management, RFID and wireless communications. It analyzes each topic area and discusses its implications for functional management. Read Report
The Federal Purchase Card: Use, Policy & Practice: This report summarizes the findings of an AGA CPAG Research Program study of purchase card (government issued charge cards used for purchases) use by federal government agencies. The subsequent three phases of this AGA study series will provide similar reviews of purchase card use by state and local governments; the travel card government issued charge cards used for travel by federal government agencies; and the travel card used by state and local governments.
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Transitioning to Performance-based Government
Released September, 2005In 2000, Performance Institute President Carl DeMaio formed a good government coalition to convene a series of “Transition Dialogues” on creating a management improvement agenda for the new President. The project resulted in numerous recommendations that were ultimately incorporated into the President’s Management Agenda. Read the report and the associated dialogue transcripts.
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Financial Management and Integrity
U.S. Headed For Fiscal Crisis? David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, totaled up our government’s income liabilities and future obligations. He has concluded that the numbers don’t add up. Steve Kroft with 60 Minutes reports.
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Managing for Results at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Released September, 2005
Performance Institute President Carl DeMaio oversaw a major project looking at performance management at the U S Environmental Protection Agency and penned this groundbreaking report on instilling a results-oriented culture at the agency.
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Creating a Performance-Based Electronic Government
Released October 30, 2002In May 2002, a coalition of good government groups launched a research project to identify the “best practices” in defining and measuring e-government initiatives. A research team surveyed CIOs and IT staff from every federal agency to determine how they design, plan, justify, manage, and measure the success of their e-government initiatives. This report presents the findings of that research, providing case studies from various agencies and articulating a framework for the development and use of IT performance measures.
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Federal Workforce
A Strategic Framework for Implementation of Human Capital Management
in the Federal Government
View Summary | View Full Report
Perceptions of the Strategic Management of Human Capital in the Federal Community
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Governance
Government Reorganization: Strategies and Tools to Get It Done
(Hannah Sistare, 2004) | View Report
Description: This report describes various approaches to how government can undertake reorganization initiatives. It identifies four historical driving forces for reorganizations: to make government work better, to save money, to enhance power, and to address pressing problems. The report then examines four principal reorganization strategies that policy makers have used in the past: commissions, presidential reorganization authority, executive-branch reorganization staff, and congressional initiatives. Four strategies to bring about organizational change in the federal government in the 21st century are then identified: virtual reorganization through e-government, virtual reorganization through coordinating councils, reorganization by commission, and reorganization by legislative authorization.
Six Trends Transforming Government
(Mark Abramson, Jonathan Breul, John Kamensky, 2006) | View Report
Description: Since 1998, the IBM center for The Business of Government has been studying the substantial changes that are under way at all levels of government within the United States and in other nations across the world. These changes are being driven by a series of new imperatives in the United States. Fortunately, there is now a set of trends that seems to be responding to these imperatives and is leading to more results-oriented government. These trends, often in combination with one another, make it more likely that government will be able to successfully respond to the ever-increasing and complex challenges it faces today and will continue to face in the future.
Reflections on 21st Century Government Management
(Donald Kettl, Steven Kelman, 2007) | View Report
Description: This report contains two essays by leading academics who challenge the reader to begin thinking about the future of government and the trends and new ideas in government management that a new president should consider as he or she takes office in 2009. Kettl questions whether government today is equipped and organized to address the challenges of the 21st century. He offers alternative approaches. Kelman questions whether the performance movement has reached its peak and raises questions about alternatives to this two-decade long movement. He also offers his forecast of alternative management priorities that should be addressed.
Presidential Address
Notable Quotes
“The Federal government has made significant progress recently under both Republican and Democratic administrations in increasing its focus on the performance of its programs. However, developing comprehensive, effective performance management and reporting is a long term project that has only begun.”
John Koskinen, Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget, William J. Clinton Administration
“The Federal Government is results-oriented. We ask ourselves if we're accomplishing the desired result at an acceptable cost. If the answer is "no" or "we don't know," we are committed to do something about it. This volume contributes to our continuing effort to improve government’s results for the American people.”
Clay Johnson III, Deputy Director for Management, Office of Management and Budget, George W. Bush Administration