Advancing Government Accountability and Transparency Through Citizen Centric Reporting

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Advancing GovernmentAccountability and

Transparency Through

Citizen Centric

Reporting

May 20, 2008



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Background

AGA is committed to fulfilling a publicinterest obligation to advance

government accountability.

Citizens have a right to an

understanding of how governments are

spending their money and if it is being

efficient and effective.

Current reporting is too cumbersomefor the average citizen.

AGA commissions National Survey.



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AGA/ Harris Interactive® Survey

Public Attitudes Toward Government

Accountability and Transparency 2008 Government at all levels is failing to meet the

needs of its citizens with regard to financial

management reporting.

The public at large overwhelmingly believes

government has the obligation to provide

reporting that explains how the government

generates and spends its money; however,government is not meeting expectations in

any area included in this survey.

Complete Survey Results at

http://www.agacgfm.org/harrispoll2008.asp



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Accountability and Transparency 2008 Across all levels of government, those

surveyed held being ³open and honest in

spending practices´ and being ³responsibleto the public for its spending´ vitally

important but felt that government

performance was poor in this area.

Respondents are specific in the ways in

which government can address their needs

and improve accountability, including better

reporting (open disclosure, easy-to-read

reports), a change in attitude in

communications (honesty and transparency)



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Accountability and Transparency 2008

There is an overall agreement on the

importance for federal, state and local

governments¶ financial managementinformation to be available to the public.

Only 5% believe that having this information

available to them is not important, regardless

of level of government.



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Accountability and Transparency 2008 However, among those who do receive

information about governments¶ generation

and spending of money, there is a strongdissatisfaction with the information that they

receive.

The strongest dissatisfaction is with the

information about the Federal government¶sfinancial management (Federal, 61%; State,

47%; Local, 38%).



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Accountability and Transparency 2008 A large majority of Americans (89%) believe

that as taxpayers, they are entitled to

transparent financial managementinformation.

57% take the strongest position possible

that government has an obligation to provide

reports that explain how the governmentgenerates and spends money.



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AGA Citizen-Cent r i c Repor ti ng

AGA believes that governmentfinancial information should be

provided in forms that are:

Clear and Understandable Updated Regularly and Often

Delivered to All and Easy to Locate

Honest in Breadth and TechnicallyAccurate in Detail



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AGA believes that its citizen friendlyfour-page report template can

contribute to a solution

League of Women Voters Support Sloan Foundation Grant Support



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Resources Available:

Content Guidelines

Design Guidelines

Media and CommunicationsTemplates

Completed Reports ± Don¶t

Reinvent the Wheel!

C onst ruc ti ng A Repor t Doesn¶ t t ak e a S u per

H uman Eff or t!



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Page 1

o Strategic Objectives - What we¶re required to d

o Demographic information

Page 2

o Notable Accomplishments - top services

o Performance metrics (non-financial) for servic

Page 3

o Revenues and Expenses - pie charts

Page 4

o What¶s Next? Future Challenges?

o Infrastructure items

AGA Citizen-Cent r i c Repor t

C ontent G ui d eli nes



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AGA Citizen-Cent r i c Repor t

Desi gn G ui d eli nes

Visual Appeal & Readability

Use of Pictures and Pie Charts

10-point Font or Higher

Ample White Space

Free of Technical Accounting Jargon ± Keep it

Simple

Professional Designer or Publishing Software



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P age 1 Ex am ple:

What ar e we

r equi r ed t o do?

P o pul ati on, P er

ca pit a i ncome, #

of gov¶ t w ork ers

H ow the

gov ernment i s

set u p



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P age 2 Ex am ple:

Ask what

per f ormanc e

met r i cs do y ou

w ant t o see

i nc l ud ed?

Repor t on 3 - 4

k ey serv i c es

( non-fi nanc i al

out comes) -

C om par e t o

pr ev i ous years

G o t o website f or

mor e i nf ormati on



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P age 3 Ex am ple:

I nc l ud e si mil ar

st atement ± r e:

aud it

U se P ie Char t s -

com par e t o

pr ev i ous years

C om plete

fi nanc i al

i nf ormati on can

be f ound on

website

C ost s/ Rev enues f or

serv i c i ng c itizens



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P age 4 Ex am ple:

I nc l ud e si mil ar

st atement -

feed back

Repor t on 3 - 4 major

c hallenges f ac i ng

community

I nc l ud e cont ac t

name



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Di st r ibute Y our Repor t

Print in local newspaper Post to website

Print bulk copies ± libraries, grocery stores, city

hall

Hold a press conference

Mailing lists

Governor¶s office, city/county offices

Activist Groups, League of Women Voters



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C om pleted Repor t s

AGA

Maricopa County, Arizona

City of Portland, Oregon

State of Oregon

State of Nevada

City of Saco, Maine

Washington D.C.

City of Tallahassee, Florida

Blount County, Tennessee

Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities

Council



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C om pleted Repor t s

Village of Los Lunas, New Mexico

TN Comptroller of the Treasury

Office of Management Services, Comptroll

of the Treasury, State of Tennessee

Saint Louis County, Minnesota

City of Virginia Beach, Virginia (draft)

Columbus Metropolitan Library (draft)

City of Carmel, Indiana (draft)

City of Lawrence, Indiana (draft)

State of Indiana (draft)



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O thers i n the W orks

U.S. Coast Guard

U.S. Department of Defense

Denali Commission

City of Phoenix, Arizona

Albany, New York

State of Arizona

State of Nevada

City of Schenectady, New York

Strong Interest from Many Others

Your Government Here!



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AGA believes that these reports will makegovernments more accountable to their

citizens, and will help Americans become

better educated and better able to

participate in government activities.

³ This initiative is about honestly reporting back

to our citizens and saying, µThis is what¶s been

done well, and this is where we¶re going to need

to improve in the years to come.¶ This statelearned long ago that you can¶t move forward

without its citizens weighing in, and we hope

this report is a big step in making that process

easier.´²John J. Radford, CGFM, CIA, CFE,

State Controller, State of Oregon



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www.agacgfm.org

Please let us know what you

think about citizen centric

reporting!

Contact Susan Fritzlen at

[email protected] and/or

1.800.242.7211.

Documents

Advancing Government Accountability and Transparency Through Citizen Centric Reporting