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AGA and Citizen Centric Reporting

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• Vision – premier association for advancing government accountability

• Mission - AGA serves government accountability professionals by providing quality education, fostering professional development and certification, and supporting standards and research to advance government accountability.

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AGA Demographics

Employers

Employers

Members by Profession

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AGA Focus Areas

• Accountability

• Certification

• Education and Research

• Citizen Centric

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Citizen Centric Reporting

• 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 cumbersome for the average citizen.

• How can AGA contribute to a solution? It is our responsibility as financial managers!

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Citizen Centric Reporting

• Four Page Citizen Focused Report

• Taskforce members develop Content Guidelines and draft prototype report

• League of Women Voters Support

• Sloan Foundation Grant Support

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Resources Available:

• Content Guidelines

• Design Guidelines

• Media and Communications Templates • Completed Reports

Constructing A Report Doesn’t take a Super Human Effort!

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• Page 1o Strategic Objectives - What we’re required to doo Demographic information

• Page 2o Notable Accomplishments - top serviceso Performance metrics (non-financial) for services

• Page 3

o Revenues and Expenses - pie charts

• Page 4

o What’s Next? Future Challenges?

o Infrastructure items

Content Guidelines – What to Include

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Page 1 Example:

What are we required to do?

Population, Per capita income, # of gov’t workers

How the government is setup

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Page 2 Example:

Ask what performance metrics do you want to see included?

Report on 3 - 4 key services (non-financial outcomes) - Compare to previous years

Go to website for more information

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Page 3 Example:

Include similar statement – re: audit

Use Pie Charts - compare to previous years

Complete financial information can be found on website

Costs/Revenues for servicing citizens

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Page 4 Example:

Include similar statement - feedback

Report on 3 - 4 major challenges facing community

Include contact name

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Completed Reports• AGA

• Columbus Metropolitan Library

• City of Carmel, Indiana

• City of Lawrence, Indiana

• State of Indiana

• Maricopa County, Arizona

• City of Portland, Oregon

• State of Oregon

• City of Saco, Maine

• Washington D.C.

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Completed Reports• Village of Los Lunas, New Mexico

• TN Comptroller of the Treasury

• Office of Management Services, Comptroller of the Treasury, State of Tennessee

• City of Virginia Beach, Virginia

• Saint Louis County, Minnesota

• State of Nevada

• City of Tallahassee, Florida

• U.S. Coast Guard

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Others Working On A Report• U.S. Department of Defense

• Denali Commission

• City of Phoenix, Arizona

• Albany, New York

• State of Arizona

• City of Schenectady, New York

• Strong Interest from Many Others

• Your Government Here!

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“On the plane back from Nashville, I read AGA's Citizen-Centric report.  I was impressed and enjoyed reading it.  It was the quickest and easiest to read and most informative and comprehensive presentation of AGA that I have ever seen.”

Harold I. Steinberg, CGFM, CPAAGA Member for 33 Years

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“One thought that occurred to me is that the gold standard for accountability reporting ought to be citizen-centric.  If you are doing anything else that is great but report to your citizens at a base level and give them the path to more info if that is what you have and they want. The great thing about a citizen-centric report is you can just about publish July 1 because you don’t have to do a superhuman effort to put a report together and wait for auditors.”

Thomas J. Sadowski, CGFM, CPAAGA Past National President and Past National TreasurerAGA Member for 31 Years

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www.agacgfm.org

Please let us know what you think about this

initiative!

Contact Susan Fritzlen at sfritzlen@agacgfm.org and/or 1.800.242.7211.