The Government Finance Officers (GFOA)  of US and Canada has issued an "End the Acronym" policy statement urging all stakeholders to refer to the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report as just that or as the "Annual Report" or even say each letter of the former acronym individually "C. A. F. R."  As the premiere professional organization of government finance officials, GFOA is challenging a population that loves acronyms to discontinue one of the most widely used.  

It is about upholding the profession's ethics.  The acronym sounds like a slur to a more international audience and GFOA has placed a high value on Diversity and Inclusion in its new Code of Ethics.   This got me to thinking about how the Code has changed.  I had been using the old code in teaching and training for years, so I pull out my synopsis of it a lined it up with the top level statements of the new code (in a spreadsheet, of course!):

What was most striking in this comparison was the use of  "I" statements in the new code.  That and broad statements of principles.  It is simultaneously more expansive and more succinct.  Overall, a very impressive change.  When I dug a little deeper I found the YouTube video GFOA produced for the new code.  At time of writing it has 3 likes (one of which is mine!)  Give it some kudos if you too are impressed by GFOA's more holistic approach to ethics and how government finance strives to make the world a better place.  After all, what  we budget and what we measure is ultimately a statement of values.  

And speaking of values, GFOA has also come out with a publication to take inclusion up a notch and address directly issues of racial justice and the concept of defunding the police.  Whether that phrase inspires or exasperates you, one thing for sure is that local governments and finance officers will sit at the cross roads of divergent views.  GFOA has taken the topic head on and produced various resources.  

Coaching and facilitation helps organizations and individuals address important topics in a proactive and forward-focused way.  I feel honored to be in this space and to do work imbued with peace and accountability.   If you are tackling issues of ethics as an individual or in your organization, finance or otherwise, please let me know if my services can help.  

For a generation, one of the most influential ideas to impact public service has been the landmark publication Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector, by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler.  A rallying cry to "revolt against bureaucratic malaise" and "build something better," it has inspired many public officials seeking to promote initiative and a sense of ownership in public organizations. Costs have been reduced and programs have been reformed because of the performance management programs inspired by Reinventing Government.  However, a recent column in Governing magazine outlined the unintended consequence of performance management: some public officials felt diminished by the performance management process, which shut down creativity needed to solve problems. For reinvention to deliver its high ideal, how can the technical changes such as performance management programs be built upon to allow people and groups to adapt and improve? We offer our help with this through an approach of peace and accountability. This is particularly useful when elected officials struggle with the efficiency and effectiveness of the organizations they have been tasked to lead or when staff feels politicized.  This matrix shows the top level "action words" used to describe our assistance:

​An approach imbued with peace and accountability doesn't avoid tough issues or assure certain outcome.  It does, however, add integrity to an improvement process by building support across the spectrum of opinions on how effective workers and organizations perform.  The result:  increased creativity, critical thinking, and shared responsibility.