Financial & Operational Readiness
Surprises Won't Slow You Down
Just like an efficient corporate enterprise, you expect optimum performance from your financial management, procurement, IT and supporting operations. But you're fully aware of the obstacles that slow the pace of government - loss of key talent, inefficient manual processes, poor data quality and access to skilled personnel to name a few. For our clients, readiness means having reliable infrastructure, access to resources, and the right information to tackle daily tasks and out-of-the-blue surprises.
Today's Challenges:
Fill in the gaps. Transition happens. Finding the expertise and capacity to fill unanticipated holes can not disrupte your mission. [More +]
What is the challenge: The need for continuous refinement of skills and expertise is driven by processes improvements, advancements in technology, new standards and many other factors. What happens when key personnel leave in the areas of finance, accounting, IT and program management? What happens when new initiatives get layered on top of existing priorities? Pressures like these can strain existing resources and create gaps in capacity and expertise. Recruiting challenges and attrition due to an aging workforce make it increasingly difficult to quickly ramp up. Access to contractors with a track record of meeting requirements and transferring knowledge to government employees can help fill the gaps and ensure deliver of agency goals.
Related Services:
• CFO Act Audit Support
• Program Management Services
• Technical Consulting Services
Simplify complex processes. Overly manual and redundant business practices can cost money and waste time. [More +]
What is the challenge: Interagency dependencies, security issues, and the shear scale of many programs have led to enormous investments in technology, people and processes over the years. Unfortunately, as a result, many programs have been built on a foundation of inefficient and overly manual and redundant business practices. To eliminate the complexity and waste embedded in many of today's financial and IT functions, agencies must cut cost and waste while advancing, not slowing, the delivery of key mission objectives. Yet most government programs are complex and simplification is easier said than done.
Simplification requires collaboration and planning across functions to get it right. It means tolerance for breaking old habits and behaviors associated with the old way of doing business. Simplification also requires the identification and evaluation of the best available technology solutions to automate and control key processes. Ample attention must also be given to embedding effective governance, risk and controls into the new process to ensure they remain streamlined and effective over the long-term.
Related Services:
• Budget and Performance Integration
• Enterprise Performance Management
• Business Process Re-engineering
• Data Management/Business Intelligence
• IT Strategy and Enterprise Architecture
Make faster management decisions. Advances in decision support tools enable faster and more insightful analysis from mountains of data. [More +]
What is the challenge: Stakeholders expect programs to move forward on time and on budget. Regardless of whether it's mission critical or business as usual, trusted data and analysis is needed to meet reporting requirements, to manage programs, and to budget wisely. The push for enterprise architectures creates opportunities to share and leverage data in new ways using business intelligence tools. What's the end game? Unencumbered access to data and analysis enables managers to make faster decisions, ensure high performance levels, and make mid-course program and project adjustments as necessary.
Fortunately business intelligence and other decision support tools have become largely standardized, affordable and easier to use. The push for common enterprise architecture also allows for agencies and departments to more easily share and leverage data in ways unheard of in the past. New processes, systems, controls and governance frameworks are also needed to ensure data quality, compliance with standards and regulations and speed of delivery. Security is also critical. Data leakage, privacy, confidentiality and other factors must be addressed with up to date policies, systems, and controls.
Related Services:
• CFO Act Audit Support
• Enterprise Risk Management
• Budget and Performance Integration
• Enterprise Performance Management
• Data Management/Business Intelligence
Budget and expect performance. Budgets and performance must drive continuous improvement of operations and alignment with mission. [More +]
What is the challenge: Through comprehensive performance analysis and improvement strategies, the Budget and Performance Integration (BPI) initiative has led to a shift in how government agencies shape their budgets, improving the linkage between resources and program performance. In addition to ensuring that budgets are results-oriented and include direct measures of performance, BPI must also drive continuous improvement of operations and alignment with mission. The challenges are many, as agencies seek to provide transparency in disclosure of results, document tangible public benefits, and demonstrate leadership in using annual performance information to devise strategies for improvement.
Related Services:
• Budget and Performance Integration
• Enterprise Performance Management
• Program Management Services
• IT Capital Planning
• IT Strategy and Enterprise Architecture
Improve quality of financial reporting. Ensure that financial statements are trusted as relevant, timely, and reliable. [More +]
What is the challenge: Outlining standards of financial performance and disclosure, the CFO Act intends to improve the government's financial management by assessing the reliability of systems, effectiveness of internal controls, and compliance with laws and regulations. Many agencies face the challenge of maintaining reporting processes to ensure that their financial statements are trusted as relevant, timely, and reliable. The critical component in establishing this trust is the agency's ability to obtain and sustain a clean audit opinion on financial statements. This requires the knowledge, background, and experience in the federal environment, financial systems assessments, and internal control assessments required to support the Office of Inspectors General (OIG) and conduct the required assessments with the lowest risk to the government.
Related Services:
• Enterprise Risk Management
• IT Audit and Technology Risk
• Data Management/Business Intelligence
