Citizen Centric and SEA Reporting in the City of Tallahassee. Association of Local Government Auditors May 7, 2013

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1 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 To present Session Objectives 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 2

2 Users of Financial Information Include From GASB Mission Statement. To issue standards that: Result in useful information for users of financial reports, and Guide and educate the public, including issuers, auditors, and users of those financial reports. From FASAB Mission Statement Accounting and financial reporting standards are essential for public accountability and for an efficient and effective functioning of our democratic system of government. 3 What is the Bottom Line in Government and Where Does One Go to Find this Bottom Line? The budget The financial statements A Service Efforts and Accomplishments Report A Citizen Centric Report 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. 4

3 GASB Experimentation in SEA 1985 Call for experimentation 1987 Concepts Statement No SEA Its Time Has Come 1994 Concept Statement No Report on Citizen Discussion Groups Sixteen Suggested Criteria for SEA Reporting 2005 SEA Guide to Understanding 2008 Concept Statement #5 and amended C/S # Voluntary Guidelines for SEA Reporting Ongoing 5 The GASB Performance Management System 6

4 The GASB Accountability Framework 7 Suggested Guidelines for Voluntary Reporting Essential Components Purpose and Scope Major Goals and Objectives Key Measures of Performance Discussion and Analysis of Results and Challenges Qualitative Characteristics of Performance Information Timeliness Understandability Comparability Consistency Relevance Reliability 8

5 Citizen-Centric Reporting Getting Information to the Public 9 Why the City of Tallahassee Supports Citizen Centric Reporting 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 10

6 Why is the City of Tallahassee Issuing a Citizen Centric Report? We have a responsibility to inform our citizens about: 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 It s about efficient citizenship 11 How Did We Get Started and Why Did We Start With the Citizen Centric Report 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 12

7 Page 1 Contents of the Four Page Citizen Centric Report City mission, vision, strategic priorities, and Target Issues Organization, operation, and demographics Page 2 What we have done with your money Selected City measures Accomplishments by Target Issue 13 Contents of Citizen Centric Report Page 3 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 What s Next Future challenges and economic outlook by Target Issue 14

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10 Issuance of Citizen Centric Reports and Media Coverage Five ( ) 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 19 Distribution of 7000 Citizen Centric Reports 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 Middle School Civics Program (Now in Elementary Schools) 20

11 Purpose of the Citizen Centric Report To Demonstrate: Transparency Accountability To Promote Dialog Two way communication To Build Trust Over time, and One citizen at a time 21 The Performance Report to Citizens (the detailed report) 22

12 Why the City of Tallahassee Wanted to Issue an SEA Report 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 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 23 What Prompted Our Desire to Issue and SEA Report SMM May 2009 dissertation - An Analysis of Local Government Performance Measurement Reports 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 24

13 Issuance of SEA Report and Media Coverage 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 25 Distribution of the Report to Citizens (SEA Report) 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 Middle School Civics Program (Now in Elementary Schools) 26

14 Building on the Citizen Centric Report a Comprehensive Report was Issued in 2012 Report to Citizens A Performance Measurement Report Issued July pages Includes all major departments Benchmarked with FBC and publically reported Report contents for each department 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 27 28

15 29 What Have We Learned 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 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. 30

16 What We Have Learned 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 Budgetwasaskingthemtodo. Sometimesweended 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. 31 Next Steps 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 Do the work in accordance with GAO and IIA Audit Standards 32

17 Website and Contact Information Citizen Centric Report pdf Performance Measurement Report (850)