ARTICLE
May 2008

The Improved Public Performance Reporting Task Force Meets to Chart the Way Forward

On April 1st and 2nd, the Task Force advising the Improved Public Performance Reporting Project (PIPPR) met to take stock of the project’s significant progress, including the findings of several successfully completed projects, and to chart the way forward. The meeting came at the half-way point in the project’s lifespan. Participants took heart in the newly gained insights into how and why users employ public performance reports (PPRs) and how producers of PPRs can continue to improve on these reports.

“We are excited that jurisdictions are already starting to implement the findings and insights generated through the Improved Public Performance Reporting Project. This is the true measure that CCAF’s work is timely, relevant, and of value to our members,” said Geoff Dubrow, Director of Capacity Development at CCAF.

Full agenda: Looking forward

The Task Force started the meeting with a strategic review of the PIPPR, reviewing the project’s objectives, undertaking a high-level assessment of the project’s progress to date. The growing list of projects completed under the auspices of the PIPPR reflects the great strides CCAF has achieved. These projects include:

• CCAF’s Good Practices Report, What Can We Learn From Effective Public Performance Reporting?: Good Practices for Central Agencies, Legislators, and Auditors, and Report Producers;
• A study on the media’s use of PPRs, entitled Ideas for Increasing Media Use of Public Performance Reports;
• A roundtable in Maple Ridge BC on municipal public performance reporting, which is summaries in a report entitled, Engaging the Public in Local Government Performance Management.

Two other projects are in their final phases and will be published shortly. These include:

• A report on the Government of Alberta’s Consultations with Users of Public Performance Reports will be published this fall with a summary “What We Heard” document available this spring;
• A study on public performance reporting in British Columbia: Towards Openness and Transparency — The Evolution of Performance Reporting in British Columbia will be published by this fall.

After the Task Force reviewed the status of these component projects, it discussed the “Go Forward” plan for the remainder of the project, which ends in June, 2009.

Carol Bellringer, Auditor General of Manitoba, led a discussion of CCAF’s upcoming Western Canadian Symposium, entitled “Improved Public Performance Reporting in Western Canada: Past, Present, and Future.” The Task Force heard how the September event will:

• Showcase the latest CCAF research findings and progress in the field of public performance reporting,
• Identify existing obstacles in advancing PPR in western Canada,
• Initiate a dialogue on what the principles of a public performance report of the future would entail, and
• Share best practices.

Task Force members offered insightful feedback, which CCAF was able to apply in refining the agenda, proposing speakers, and improving the flow of the event.

Jonathan Malloy, a Professor at Carleton University, presented the proposed objectives and methodology of the study on elected officials he is co-leading with Arn Van Iersel, the former Acting Auditor General of BC. The study is looking at the effective use of performance and auditor general reports by elected officials, including what preconditions and incentives are required. Jonathan’s presentation led to a lively discussion on possible research issues when the study goes to field.

Over a working lunch, Task Force members heard from Doug Lynkowski on the Government of Alberta’s Consultations with Users of Public Performance Reports. Doug chaired the project’s Steering Committee that advised on overall project direction. The project successfully launched a direct dialogue between the producers and users of these reports. CCAF led a series of focus group-style consultation sessions in Edmonton with the media, business non-governmental organizations (NGOs), professional associations, social/advocacy NGOs (including a separate NGO session in Calgary), and members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. There were also separate individual interviews with cabinet ministers, a senior government official, members of Alberta’s Audit Committee, and members of the project’s Advisory Committee.

Consultant Elena Mantagaris took the Task Force members through the initial outlines of how CCAF intends to build on its work in municipal public performance reporting. The members reviewed the positive results of the September 20 and 21, 2007 municipal workshop in BC on how municipalities can use performance reports to meet their needs in the areas of governance and accountability. The session, facilitated by CCAF, was held in Maple Ridge, British Columbia and brought together a mix of municipal politicians, administrators, staff, and private sector experts. Ms. Mantagaris proposed holding several focus group-style sessions similar to the Alberta project with the aim of better understanding how citizens, community groups, businesses, and other groups use the reports and how they can be improved.

Task Force members were enthusiastic about a presentation on the latest developments in electronic performance reporting. An updated version of the presentation will be posted on performancereporting.ca.

The Task Force appreciated the opportunity to provide valuable strategic advice to CCAF as it continues to make progress on the PIPPR and they left feeling confident of the successful results achieved to date. With the Western Symposium, the Elected Officials Study, and the BC Municipal Roundtables still ahead, all signs point to more leading edge research from CCAF and its partners.

New members

The Task Force welcomes several new members, practitioners who are all making strong contributors to the public performance reporting process in Canada and internationally:

Carol Bellringer, Auditor General of Manitoba. She had previously served as Manitoba’s Auditor General from 1992 to 1996. She has also served as the Director of Private Funding for the University of Manitoba and as Chair of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, where she led the organization through a dramatic financial recovery.

Barbara Cohn Berman, Vice President of the Fund for the City of New York and Vice President of the National Center for Civic Innovation. She has spearheaded several innovative initiatives, helping to create new citizen-centred performance measures for municipal government services. In one project, the Fund helped outfit cars with laser-based measuring instruments to gauge the smoothness of New York’s roads. In another project, the Fund created a Computerized Neighborhood Environment Tracking program that provides citizens with handheld computers to record street-level conditions and which direct the information to the appropriate government agency so the problems — from garbage collection, removing graffiti, and repairing potholes — can be addressed quickly.

Doug Lynkowski, Comptroller General of Alberta. He previously served as Executive Director of Budget and Business Planning at Alberta Finance’s Office of Budget and Management and as Alberta Treasury’s Internal Auditor. He has been instrumental in advancing the Government of Alberta’s consultations with users of PPRs. A report on these consultations, prepared by CCAF, will be released this year. This project has been a key deliverable of the Improved Public Performance Reporting Project.

John Doyle, Auditor General of British Columbia. He has also served as the Deputy Auditor General of Western Australia where he was responsible for all assurance operations and where he conducted the attest audit of 210 agencies. He has also served as Associate Professor and Head of the School of Accounting and Finance at the University of Notre Dame in Australia.

Rob Fleming, Chair of British Columbia’s Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts. He was elected to represent the riding of Victoria-Hillside on May 17, 2005. He also serves as Opposition Critic for Advanced Education and was previously a two-term City Councillor in Victoria.

John Herhalt, a member of CCAF’s Board of Directors, is a partner in KPMG LLP’s advisory services practice and is the Global Leader of their Infrastructure, Government and Health Line of Business as well as Canada’s National Leader of Public Sector Services. He has extensive experience with external audit, internal audit and various advisory services focusing on the public sector and public utilities sector.

 

Read more about the Fund for the City of New York at fcny.org. More information on CCAF PIPPR, including publications reference above, is available at: performancereporting.ca or by contacting Chris Hyde, CCAF’s public performance reporting expert, at chyde@ccaf-fcvi.com or by telephone at 613-241-6713.