Recognizing Excellence in Performance Reporting

The discussion papers should summarize and analyze the main points put forward by the author of the attached article. Do you agree or disagree with the author, and what is the basis for your position? Include additional research and thoughtful synthesis of the authors ideas with your ideas.

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"We've come a long way, baby!"
That statement could be said about
AGA's Certificate of Excellence in
Accountability Reporting (CEAR)
Program. CEAR began as a response
to the Federal Financial Management
Status Report and requests by the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget and
the Chief Financial Officers Council
for a certificate program to encourage
and recognize excellence in the annual
accountability reports federal government
agencies are required to produce.
The certificate is considered evidence
of a fair presentation of an
agency's programmatic and financial
affairs. Each report is reviewed by
teams of volunteers and a technical
consultant, who has been with the
program since its inception. The goal
of the program is two-fold:
 Review individual accountability
reports, either Performance and
Accountability Reports (PARs) or
the new Annual Financial Reports
(AFRs)-and provide recommendations
for improving quality.
This goal is particularly important
considering the limited resources
available within the government
to review the reports for the
purposes of improving quality
and usefulness while providing
suggestions for improvement.
 Evaluate the reports and publicly
recognize excellence by issuing the
Certificate of Excellence to those
agencies that meet the criteria.
In 1998, teams reviewed six FY97
reports but awarded no certificates.
By 1999, 11 agencies submitted their
FY98 reports with two receiving the
certificate. An awards ceremony for
the agency awardees, National Aeronautics
and Space Administration and
the Social Security Administration,
and the 44 reviewers was held at the
Library of Congress on a November
morning. For the FY02 reports, the
awards ceremony continued to be
held at the Library of Congress but
earlier, in September 2003, with a
guest speaker and refreshments and
photographs. That year the CEAR
Program received 12 reports to review,
awarded seven certificates and used
48 reviewers. By 2005, the event had
moved to the National Press Club with
a black-tie awards reception and dinner.
Twenty-one reports were received
and 10 agencies were awarded certificates
for their FY04 reports. Corporate
Partners Deloitte and KPMG LLP are
long-time sponsors of the event.
This year, 21 FY09 PARs or AFRs
were received by AGA with a record
19 receiving the CEAR Award.
The black-tie event was held at the
By: Eveanna Barry, MS
68 JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FALL 2010
Recognizing
Excellence in
Performance
Reporting
certificate of
excellence in
accountability
reporting®
presented to the
in recognition of your outstanding efforts
preparing SSa's performance and
accountability report for the fiscal
year ended September 30, 2009.
A Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting is presented
by AGA to federal government agencies whose annual
Performance and Accountability Reports achieve the
highest standards demonstrating accountability
and communicating results.
U.S. Social
Security
Administration
Relmond P. Van Daniker, DBA, CPA
Executive Director, AGA
John H. Hummel, CGFM
Chair, Certificate of Excellence
in Accountability Reporting Board
The....see more attached.....