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

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

3. 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?

4. 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

5. 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

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

7. Findings – Overall Analysis, Importance of Topics

8. Findings – Overall Analysis, Depth of Understanding

9. 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

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

11. 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

12. 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!

13. 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!

14. 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

15. Questions?

16. Thank you!!