Interior Department’s Financial Management Recognized with Certificate of Excellence in Accountability
May 27, 2009
Music/Announcer: This is a podcast from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Ron Tull: How a major federal government department handles its finances isn’t something the public hears about unless there is a problem.
Dan Fletcher, the Interior Department’s Director of Financial Management and Deputy Chief Financial Officer wants the public to know that for a 12th year in a row, their annual performance and accountability report to congress received a clean audit. And in fact they have once again been recognized by the Association of Government Accountants with the Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting.
Dan, welcome to the podcast, this isn’t the first time that Interior’s financial management has received this award.
Dan Fletcher: We’ve done it nine years in a row. It hasn’t been easy. We’ve actually been, as I say, called on the carpet a few times and said ‘hey you’re not up to snuff here, you need to improve this, this isn’t transparent enough.’ which is one of the buzzwords today. But we have been called on to increase in a level of transparency a few years back and I think we’ve really stepped up over the years to prove that.”
Ron Tull: How hard is it to get this award?
Dan Fletcher: Out of about 50 some entities in the government that would be eligible, about 17 got it this year, which is the highest number yet.”
Ron Tull: In fiscal year 2008 your department ledgers accounted for some $20 billion dollars, including royalty income from natural resources on public lands.
Where does transparency fit into that type of large scale accounting?
Dan Fletcher: Accountability says we got $16 million and we know what we did with it and we know what we accomplished with it. The transparency is saying, here’s all the things that we did with it and here’s all the places that the money went. For example the transparency used to be that we had these financial statements and we had these metrics and we put them out there for public consumption. Now it is what underlies those metrics, and so how many miles of road, where is that road, who benefits from that road, who participated in that road? That’s the level of transparency that we have today. That’s the transparency that folks want to have and they can have today. We’re now starting to see geo-spatial data tied with it, so you can click on a map and go right toward dollars spent. That’s amazing transparency that we are right on the cusp of.”
Ron Tull: Accounting for FY 2009 will include money from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it sounds like the bar will be raised again
Dan Fletcher: This year’s going to have a lot of uniqueness to it because of the recovery act. To the degree that we have had to change our reporting systems to meet this new transparency requirement, what I would say is, fortunately Interior has a lot of very talented folks and a lot of very committed folks, the folks that believe in programs and the folks that have a ‘can-do’ attitude. There’s been a lot of planning that has gone into this, what I would say is gone above and beyond because of the sensitivity. You know the President’s commitment to transparency and accountability with the recovery act said ‘we’re going to plan, plan and get it right,’ and I really think you can see evidence of that all throughout the implementation for the recovery act.”
Ron Tull: And what about the performance aspect, those goals that you attach metrics to and then have a dollar amount tied to them?
Dan Fletcher: Well the recovery act calls for specific performance goals associated with the recovery act. So the change not just so much about the recovery act, but some for just the recovery act, and then the whole change about what’s changing here at Interior. Our renewable energy focus, our commitment to youth, those kinds of things, so those are new areas that you’ll see goals around. Those are the Secretary’s commitments.”
Ron Tull: Dan Fletcher, thank you for joining us today, if you want to find out more about DOI budget and performance, go to our website at www.doi.gov and click on budget and performance in the left column. On the same site you will also find a link to recovery.doi.gov which has a map of where and how recovery funds will be spent. This podcast is a presentation of the U.S. department of the interior, I’m Ron tull, Washington.