Better Financial Decisions: The CFO Council’s Challenge

Have you visited the Web site of the Chief Financial Officers Council (www.cfoc.gov) lately? America’s budgetary authorities have their hands full tying together finance, program and oversight information. Decision support systems that add real property to that mix can help develop high-quality financial and performance information to make policy decisions easier.

Program and financial managers are working more closely than ever in government, to fully integrate financial information (finance, budget, and cost), with program, and oversight information.

In this new, more closely integrated environment, measuring performance is a critical element of effective decision-making. The burden is to create financial management policies and practices that enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of governmental programs. These policies and practices demand performance management based on quantitative standards, collection of accurate and timely performance data and comparing the results against appropriate standards.

The CFO Council’s goals are ambitious but important. Besides those listed above, the council has tasked itself with creating a system for integrating performance measures, cost information, and financial reporting. Ultimately, the CFOC is looking to enhance the government-wide framework that provides sound financial policies and services, and facilitates effective communication. By doing so, it will improve the integration between the budget and management functions in government.

What is the missing variable in this effort? It is the understanding that this type of change management really lies at the crossroads of mission requirements and the capital and fixed assets available to meet those requirements.

Here’s a way to think about it visually:





By comparing an organization's mission, budgets, workforce trends and owned or leased property, decisions can be made more easily and consistently leading to benefits in areas such as:

• Operations: Reduced operating costs, best practices, consistent reporting standards and performance measures
• Asset Use: Optimized space utilization, tied to mission fulfillment
• Cash, Investment and Asset Management: Managed value, auditable benefits and costs
• Demography: Better balance, reduced churn and move costs

This integrated approach to decision-making allows for the greatest value to be gained from money spent on mission and program-related assets.

Many government financial and operations executives use VISTA for these types of information technology, management consulting, decision support systems and services. Such services and solutions help collect and analyze massive volumes of asset-related data. The result is high quality financial and performance information that makes it easier to plan and implement effective policy, management, stewardship, and budgetary decisions.

For more than 20 years, VISTA’s solutions have simplified cash management strategies – cutting costs, eliminating waste and improving overall workplace efficiency. To learn more, http://www.vistatsi.com