Transcript Document

Citizen Centric and SEA
Reporting in the City of
Tallahassee
Association of Local Government Auditors
May 7, 2013
Sam M. McCall, PhD, CPA, CGFM, CIA, CGAP
Chief Audit Officer – Florida State University
Session Objectives
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To present
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The history of performance measurement reporting in
public administration, private sector accounting, and
governmental accounting
GASB Concept Statements on Service Efforts and
Accomplishments (SEA)Reporting and Suggested
Guidelines for Voluntary Reporting
The Association of Government Accountants Efforts to
Promote Citizen Centric and Performance SEA Reporting
City of Tallahassee Efforts to Report to Citizens
Information about the Operation of their government
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Users of Financial
Information Include
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From GASB Mission
Statement. To issue
standards that:
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Result in useful
information for users of
financial reports, and
Guide and educate the
public, including issuers,
auditors, and users of
those financial reports.
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From FASAB Mission
Statement
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Accounting and
financial reporting
standards are essential
for public
accountability and for
an efficient and
effective functioning of
our democratic system
of government.
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What is the Bottom Line in
Government and Where Does One Go
to Find this Bottom Line?
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The budget
The financial statements
A Service Efforts and
Accomplishments Report
A Citizen Centric Report
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Net income has no
special meaning in
government.
Therefore the focus
should be on (1)
what did we receive
and spend this year
and (2) what did we
accomplish.
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GASB Experimentation
in SEA
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1985 – Call for
experimentation
1987 – Concepts
Statement No. 1
1989-90 – SEA Its
Time Has Come
1994 Concept
Statement No. 2
2002 Report on Citizen
Discussion Groups
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2003 - Sixteen Suggested
Criteria for SEA Reporting
2005 – SEA Guide to
Understanding
2008 – Concept Statement #5
and amended C/S #2
2010 Voluntary Guidelines for
SEA Reporting Ongoing
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The GASB Performance
Management System
Figure 1.1
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The GASB Accountability
Framework
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Suggested Guidelines for
Voluntary Reporting
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Essential Components
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Purpose and Scope
Major Goals and
Objectives
Key Measures of
Performance
Discussion and Analysis
of Results and
Challenges
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Qualitative
Characteristics of
Performance Information
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Timeliness
Understandability
Comparability
Consistency
Relevance
Reliability
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Citizen-Centric Reporting
Getting Information to the Public
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Why the City of Tallahassee Supports
Citizen Centric Reporting
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Government officials have a responsibility to be
good stewards, to spend monies provided wisely,
and to report financial and performance information
back to citizens on accomplishments and
challenges.
Citizen reporting has its history in Efficient
Citizenship Theory
– Citizens are not the customers of government, they
are the owners of the government
– Democratic government is best shaped by the
choices of well informed citizens
Dwight Waldo “Government is not about
efficiency, it is about democracy which is often
inefficient”
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Why is the City of Tallahassee Issuing
a Citizen Centric Report?
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We have a responsibility to inform our
citizens about:
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What we are responsible for doing
Where the money comes from that runs the
City and where it goes
What we have accomplished with monies
received and expended , and
What challenges face the City moving forward
We believe informed citizens make for better
government
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It’s about “efficient citizenship”
How Did We Get Started and Why Did We
Start With the Citizen Centric Report
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The City’s performance measurement efforts
started in a City Commission retreat
We wanted to start communicating with
citizens to prepare them for an SEA report
We were not ready to issue an SEA report either internally or externally. SEA resistance
was more of a workload issue.
The Citizen Centric report was doable and had
City Commission and Executive Management
support
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Contents of the Four Page
Citizen Centric Report
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Page 1
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City mission, vision, strategic priorities,
and Target Issues
Organization, operation, and
demographics
Page 2
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What we have done with your money
Selected City measures
Accomplishments by Target Issue
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Contents of Citizen Centric Report
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Page 3
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The City’s Budget: General Fund and
Business Type Funds; revenues and
expenditures
Display of sources and uses of funds
in tables and pie charts
Page 4
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What’s Next – Future challenges and
economic outlook by Target Issue
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Issuance of Citizen Centric Reports
and Media Coverage
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Five (2007-2011) Citizen Centric Reports have
been issued
Received front page newspaper coverage
Received television coverage
Report page 3 data verified by City Auditor
Citizen groups annually receive reports and are
requested to provide audit topic ideas and
suggested performance measures
Reports are available in hard copy and online
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Distribution of
7000 Citizen Centric Reports
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City Departments and Neighborhood Associations
City Advisory Committees
Tallahassee Regional Airport
Community and Senior Centers and the Public
Library
Other governments to include the County, FSU,
FAMU, TCC
League of Women Voters
Leon County District Schools
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Middle School Civics Program (Now in Elementary Schools)
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Purpose of the Citizen Centric Report
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To Demonstrate:
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To Promote
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Transparency
Accountability
Dialog
Two way communication
To Build Trust
– Over time, and
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One citizen at a time
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The Performance Report to
Citizens
(the detailed report)
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Why the City of Tallahassee
Wanted to Issue an SEA Report
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Citizens should be provided a report that addresses
both what their government spends and what was
accomplished
Currently, financial statements and budgets provide
technical information that is needed. However, that
information is often not understood or useful
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Financial statements can be over 200 pages long
Operating and capital budgets often exceed 500 pages
Neither does a good job of plainly explaining to citizens what
has been accomplished with monies provided and what
challenges lie ahead
Citizens need information in layers
Something different is needed
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What Prompted Our Desire
to Issue and SEA Report
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SMM May 2009 dissertation - “An Analysis of Local
Government Performance Measurement Reports”
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Reviewed all (approximately 45) local government reports
submitted to AGA in its SEA program
Traced performance reporting for the last 100 years in
financial accounting and public administration literature
The City of Tallahassee receiving an NCCI grant to
support SEA reporting
To address a current concern that citizens do not
trust their government and they do not see
government as transparent and accountable
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Issuance of SEA Report
and Media Coverage
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Issued our first report in August 2011 (Issued the second report
in July 2012)
Made an appointment with the Executive and Managing editor of
the Tallahassee Democrat to show them our report
Received front page newspaper coverage
Received television coverage
Florida League of Cities sent the newspaper article to all cities in
Florida as part of their clipping service
Citizen groups received reports and were requested to provide
additional suggested performance measures
City Commissioner provided reports to League of Women Voters
Reports are available in hard copy and online
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Distribution of the Report to Citizens
(SEA Report)
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City Departments and Neighborhood Associations
City Advisory Committees
Tallahassee Regional Airport
Community and Senior Centers and the Public
Library
Other governments to include the County, FSU,
FAMU, TCC
League of Women Voters
Leon County District Schools
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Middle School Civics Program (Now in Elementary Schools)
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Building on the Citizen Centric Report a
Comprehensive Report was Issued in 2012
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Report to Citizens – A Performance
Measurement Report
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Issued July 2012
96 pages
Includes all major departments
Benchmarked with FBC and publically reported
Report contents for each department
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Mission statement, organization and services provided
Goals and objectives
Key as well as more detailed performance measures
Accomplishments and challenges
Expenditures by program and line item
Report includes tables, graphs, charts, and photos
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What Have We Learned
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This was new for Departments. They were willing to
help, but needed a roadmap of what was wanted,
what it would look like, and they needed time to do it.
Plan on having multiple meetings to get staff
educated on what you are looking for. We generally
used the AGA/ Rutgers performance reporting
measurement toolkit
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http://www.performancereporting.org/
Please remember, everyone is busy and may not
consider your deadline as important as their others.
Know when and how to push if needed, but generally
patience and understanding works.
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What We Have Learned
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Try not to do this at the same time as the Budget is
being prepared. Departments were pressed for time
between what we were asking them to do and what
Budget was asking them to do. Sometimes we ended
up with what they submitted to Budget, which is not
what we were asking for. They would sometimes get
frustrated that we were asking them to change
something…again.
For charts and graphs, can you tell the reader in one
sentence what they should get out of it? If not, maybe
you should select another measure or chart to present.
Charts and graphs need to be meaningful to citizens,
not just the City.
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Next Steps
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Continue to push for a statistically valid
citizen survey and work responses into each
Departments section of the report
The City Auditor should provide assurances
on
selected
performance
information
presented in the SEA report
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Do the work in accordance with GAO and IIA
Audit Standards
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Website and Contact Information
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Citizen Centric Report
http://www.talgov.com/auditing/pdf/citizenreport2010.
pdf
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Performance Measurement Report
http://www.talgov.com/auditing/
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[email protected]
(850) 644-0651
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