Financial Management: Providing a Foundation for Transition - AGA

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2Table of contentsAbout the Association ofGovernment AccountantsThe Association of Government Accountants(AGA), founded in 1950, is the educationalorganization dedicated to the enhancement ofpublic financial management. The AGA servesthe professional interests of state, local andfederal financial managers who are responsiblefor effectively using billions of dollars and othermonetary resources every day. The associationhas more than 14,000 members, including professionalsin accounting, administration, auditing,budgeting, consulting, grants, fraud investigationand information technology. The AGA hasbeen instrumental in developing accountingand auditing standards and in generating newconcepts for the effective organization and administrationof financial management functions. Theassociation conducts independent research andanalysis of all aspects of government financialmanagement. These studies, including the 2008AGA CFO Survey, make AGA a leading advocatefor improving the quality and effectiveness ofgovernment fiscal administration and programperformance and accountability. For more information,please visit our Web site at www.agacgfm.org.Executive summary 1About the survey 3Road to transformation 4Financial reporting: more than a seal of approval 4Internal controls need broader focus and integration 6Continuing resolutions: a challenge to CFOs 10Compliance overload 12Top risks 15Human capital 15Leadership 18Systems 20Looking forward 21What to continue 21What to avoid 23Financial statements and audits: a closer look 24Working with auditors 25Changing accounting and auditing standards 26Conclusion 28About Grant ThorntonGrant Thornton LLP, founded in Chicago in1924, is the U.S. member firm of Grant ThorntonInternational (http://www.gti.org), one of the sixglobal accounting, tax and business advisoryorganizations. In over 500 offices in over 100countries, including 50 offices in the UnitedStates, the partners of Grant Thornton memberfirms provide personalized attention and thehighest-quality service to public and privateclients around the globe. Grant Thornton’s GlobalPublic Sector, based in Alexandria, Va., is aglobal management consulting business with themission of providing responsive and innovativefinancial, performance management and systemssolutions to governments and international organizations.Visit Grant Thornton’s Global PublicSector at http://www.grantthornton.com/publicsector.
3About the surveyThe Association of Government Accountants (AGA),in partnership with Grant Thornton, has sponsoredan annual federal chief financial officer (CFO) surveysince 1996. Earlier AGA surveys focused on issuessuch as governance structure, human capital, financialsystems, performance measurement, internal controland compliance. For the 2008 survey, we focus onpolicy issues important to the continued success offinancial transformation in government. These issuesinclude financial reporting, internal control, continuingresolutions, compliance requirements, human capital,systems, and accounting and audit standards.Most survey respondents are from federal civilianagencies and departments. The purpose of thesurveys is to identify emerging issues in financialmanagement and provide a vehicle for practitionersto share their views and experiences withcolleagues and policy makers. This is one of theways in which AGA maintains its leadership ingovernmental financial management issues.AnonymityIn order to preserve anonymity and encouragerespondents to speak freely, AGA’s annual surveysof the CFO community do not attributethoughts and quotations to individual financialexecutives who were interviewed.Survey methodologyWith AGA guidance, Grant Thornton developedonline and in-person interview survey instrumentsthat included closed- and open-endedquestions. Grant Thornton used these questionnairesto interview 239 federal executives andmanagers involved in federal financial managementin 70 departments, departmental agenciesand independent entities and commissions. Therewere 121 in-person interviewees and 118 onlinerespondents. 1 They included CFOs, deputyCFOs and other entity financial executives,along with some senior managers. In addition,leaders from the U.S. Office of Management andBudget (OMB), the Government AccountabilityOffice (GAO), congressional committees and theInspectors General (IG) community participatedin the survey.1An additional 85 state and local government and 17 nongovernmentprofessionals responded to the online survey, butwere not included in this report.
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