Government Service Efforts and Accomplishments Performance Reports

55 Pages·2005·3.29 MB·English

Government Service Efforts and Accomplishments
Performance Reports: A Guide to Understanding
July 2005
Paul Epstein
James Fountain
Wilson Campbell
Terry Patton
Kimberly Keaton
GOVERNMENTAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BOARD
OF THE FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING FOUNDATION
GASB USER GUIDE SERIES
What You Should Know about Your Local Government’s Finances: A Guide to Financial
Statements (GUG01)
What You Should Know about Your School District’s Finances: A Guide to Financial
Statements (GUG02)
An Analyst’s Guide to Government Financial Statements (GUG03)
What Else You Should Know about a Government’s Finances: A Guide to Notes to the Financial Statements
and Supporting Information (GUG04)
The Quick Guide to Local Government Financial Statements (GQG01)
The Quick Guide to School District Financial Statements (GQG02)
The Quick Guide to State Government Financial Statements (GQG03)
For a list of the documents in the Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting series, see inside back
cover.
For information on applicable prices and discount rates, please contact:
Order Department
Governmental Accounting Standards Board
401 Merritt 7
PO Box 5116
Norwalk, CT 06856-5116
[phone]
Government Service Efforts and Accomplishments
Performance Reports: A Guide to Understanding
July 2005
Paul Epstein
James Fountain
Wilson Campbell
Terry Patton
Kimberly Keaton
GOVERNMENTAL ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BOARD
OF THE FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING FOUNDATION
Copyright © 2005 by Governmental Accounting Standards Board. All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
Governmental Accounting Standards Board.
FOREWORD
As governments continue to experiment with service efforts and accomplishments (SEA) performance
measures, more and more reports that incorporate those measures are becoming publicly available.
Accompanying the increase in externally available SEA reports is the desire of citizens and other users to
better understand the information in those reports. This publication is intended to assist users by providing
them with the tools to better understand those reports.
Although this guide is primarily structured on reports prepared using the guidelines outlined in the GASB
Special Report, Reporting Performance Information: Suggested Criteria for Effective Communication,
the insights into what SEA performance measures are intended to convey will be of value to users of any
report that contains SEA measures.
This publication was prepared by a group of dedicated individuals who as a team have devoted their
professional lives to improved public accountability. Paul Epstein of Epstein & Fass Associates served as the
lead author, with significant input from Jay Fountain, a consultant to the GASB and former GASB assistant
director of research, and Wilson Campbell, GASB project manager. GASB research manager Terry Patton
and Epstein & Fass research assistant Kimberly Keaton also contributed to the effort.
The GASB efforts to encourage voluntary experimentation with external reports of SEA performance
measures have been generously supported by contributions from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This publication
is another major step in the GASB staff’s research, which is expected to culminate in a recommendation to
the Board on future project directions in late 2006. The continued efforts by state and local governments to
expand the use of external SEA reporting will increase the body of knowledge available on which to base
that recommendation. More importantly, the wider use of SEA reports will enhance the accountability of
those governments that issue those reports.
July 2005 David R. Bean
Norwalk, Connecticut Director of Research and
Technical Activities
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PREFACE
This guide to understanding service efforts and accomplishments (SEA) performance reports by state and
local governments is the result of work performed as part of the continuing GASB research project on SEA.
A major component of that research was the 2003 publication of a set of sixteen suggested criteria that have
provided a basis for more extensive experimentation with the external reporting of SEA performance
information that will communicate relevant, reliable information about the results of government programs
and services to elected officials, citizens, and other users.
Since the GASB published the suggested criteria, a number of state and local governments around the
country have been experimenting using the suggested criteria, and a growing number of new SEA performance
reports have been issued. The GASB appreciates the willingness of state and local governments to participate
in the GASB’s ongoing research into SEA performance reporting. As part of the GASB’s efforts to encourage
and assist with that experimentation, this publication was developed primarily to help readers become informed
consumers of SEA performance reports that are prepared using, to some degree, the suggested criteria.
The main feature of this publication is a “user’s tour” of an SEA performance report to help readers
understand what they are likely to find in a report, and how to use the information to assess a government’s
performance.
The guide takes a reader through the features of state or local government SEA performance reports by
asking a series of questions such as: Where should I begin? How can I find the information that most
interests me? How can I tell what the government is trying to achieve and how well it is achieving it? How
can I get a better view of performance for issues or services that most interest me? What else do I need
know? We point out that the best way to learn to use a SEA performance report is to focus on items that
interest you.
The guide also provides an overall context for government SEA performance reporting to help readers
understand the reasons for reporting on performance and how to use SEA performance information, a list of
the suggested criteria and other good practices, and where to find more information including performance
information available on the Internet from governments cited in this guide.
Examples from recent SEA performance reports are provided to illustrate key points, with explanations of
how to use the information. There is no standard order or format for public performance reports, and not all
reports meet all suggested criteria. So an SEA performance report on a government of interest to you may
not have all the features described here, or may have them in a different order or arranged in a different
way. We hope the examples that are included in this publication will help you understand and use almost any
government’s performance report, in whatever order you encounter features described here.
We are grateful to the external reviewers who provided valuable input to us during development of the
guide. In addition, the guide would not have been possible without the assistance of the GASB staff. Special
thanks go to Dean Mead, Ellen Falk, and Patti Waterbury and to the Production department for the countless
hours they spent in organizing and editing this report.
Wilson S. Campbell James R. Fountain
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CONTENTS
Page
Number
PART ONE. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 1
Government Performance: More Than Financial Results ............................................................... 2
Financial statements: important, but insufficient to completely assess a government’s
achievement of its goals........................................................................................................... 2
Potential Users of State and Local Government SEA Performance Reports................................. 3
What You Will Find in This Guide .................................................................................................... 3
SEA Performance Reports Can Convey What Government Achieves .......................................... 4
Look for SEA performance reports by governments of interest to you ................................... 4
SEA Performance Information and Managing for Results.............................................................. 4
Managing for results: a basic overview..................................................................................... 5
SEA performance reporting as part of managing for results.................................................... 6
Overview of the GASB-Suggested Criteria for SEA Performance Reporting............................... 6
PART TWO. UNDERSTANDING AND USING AN SEA PERFORMANCE REPORT................ 7
A User’s Tour of an SEA Performance Report.............................................................................. 7
Where should I begin?............................................................................................................... 8
How can I find the information that most interests me?........................................................... 11
How can I tell what the government is trying to achieve and how well it is achieving it?....... 15
How can I get a better view of performance for issues or services that most interest me? ... 18
What else do I need to know?................................................................................................... 32
The Best Way to Learn to Use an SEA Performance Report Is to Focus on Items
That Interest You........................................................................................................................... 36
APPENDIX A. THE SUGGESTED CRITERIA AND OTHER GOOD PRACTICES .................... 37
Development of the Suggested Criteria........................................................................................... 37
The Suggested Criteria for Effective Communication of Performance Information ...................... 37
The external report on performance information...................................................................... 37
What performance information to report .................................................................................. 39
Communication of performance information............................................................................. 40
Other Good Practices for Effective SEA Performance Reporting................................................. 41
APPENDIX B. WHERE TO FIND MORE INFORMATION ........................................................... 43
Information from the GASB Including Free Copies of the Special Report..................................... 43
Performance Information Available on the Internet from Governments Cited in This Guide......... 43
Design conceived by Alina Simone and Dana Barnes, and executed by Dana Barnes. Photo on page 1 by Alina Simone.
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