Governmental Finance Information for Public Officials and Leaders Susan Luce Capstone Project Presentation June 14, 2014 Advisor: Dr. Matt Jones

Agenda Research Question Research Methods Findings Conclusions Implications & Next Steps Leadership Reflection Acknowledgements

Research Question Elected and appointed public officials enter public service with varying backgrounds, and must be held accountable for the decisions they make about how to utilize the public resources they have available, including choices about different sources of funds or how to allocate limited resources. How much financial information do our elected officials and senior management need to know in order to make necessary budgetary and other fiscal decisions? What depth of understanding is needed of this information – basic, operational, or expert?

Literature Review Financial Education Tools and Resources Handbooks & Guides Online Resources Publications Instructional Programs Information Used for Decision-Making Budgeting decisions – economic & financial data vs political factors Comparative information for other jurisdictions Capital projects Communication of financial information

Research Methods Survey, distributed to membership of the Oregon Municipal Finance Officers Association (OMFOA) and Emerging Local Government Leaders Four questions: What is the importance of these topics for officials to understand within 1-3 months? What is the importance of these topics for officials to understand within 3-6 months? What is the importance of these topics for officials to understand within 6-12 months? What depth of understanding of these topics is necessary within 12 months? Likert Scale for Questions 1 – 3: 1 – 5, 1 = Not Necessary to Understand Topic, 5 = Must Understand Topic Likert Scale for Question 4: 0 = Not applicable, 1 = Basic Understanding Only, 2 = Intermediate/Operational Understanding, 3 = Advanced/Expert Understanding

Survey Topics 30 Topics in 6 Subject Areas Accounting Budgeting Reporting Internal Controls Auditing Other

Findings – Overall Analysis, Importance of Topics

Findings – Overall Analysis, Depth of Understanding

Findings – Overall Analysis Highest Scoring Individual Topics Topic Importance, 6-12 Months (1-5) Depth of Understanding (1-3) Accounting: Constraints on Resources 4.69 2.45 Internal Controls: Responsibilities of Management/ Executives 4.58 2.47 Budgeting: Budget Process 4.56 2.35

Findings – Other Analysis By Type of Organization By Size of Organization By Type of Position

Conclusions Across all dimensions of the analysis, two topics ranked consistently high Accounting: Constraints on Resources Internal Controls: Responsibilities of Management/Executives Public finance managers share the responsibility for facilitating this education In this era of austerity and increased accountability, decision-makers must own their choices more than ever. Whether government officials like it or not, the public tolerance for unawareness has been whittled down to an unforgiving nub. ~ Liz Farmer, 2014

Implications & Next Steps Continue research to identify best methods of teaching technical subjects (like finance and accounting) to individuals without a technical background Determine effectiveness of generic versus organization- specific learning materials Develop materials!

Leadership Reflections The Leadership Challenge Inspire a Shared Vision Enable Others to Act Strengths Based Leadership More about strengths of the group than just individual strengths Lead from where you sit!

Acknowledgements Multnomah County Finance & Risk Management Division Leadership Cohort Awesome! Friends & Family OMFOA & ELGL membership All EMPA Faculty, Mentors, and Staff Capstone Advisor, Dr. Jones

Questions?

Thank you!!