Government organizations spend enormous amounts of money. They employ a large percentage of the work force. They have an undeniably huge impact on the national economy and wealth. Yet they are, for the most part, unmanaged. What passes for management is a combination of oversight and audit. Oversight is primarily reactive: offering negative feedback for failures and demanding additional rules and regulations to prevent reoccurrences. Audits look for "bright line" discrepancies and clear violations to those rules and regulations. Government operations are often criticized for "waste and mismanagement."Yet the current situation, unfortunately, can best be described as one of "un-management" rather than "mis-management." Government can run better. The purpose of this book is to look at how government can move from "rule driven" to "leadership driven" management. Specifically, it will document and discuss specific examples of successful cost informed decision making and cost management and control in government. It will also delineate the requirements of such success and explore the special needs of transforming the management culture of government from its well embedded past practices to a new paradigm of leadership driven management.
In recent years, nonprofit and voluntary organisations have faced challenges and unanticipated pressures as a result of increased competition for funding, technological advancements, the need to comply with government regulations, and increased social and community expectations regarding greater accountability and transparency. Cost accounting and cost management tools are considered to be a means of providing adequate and quality information for management control for all sorts of organisations, including nonprofits. Using empirical evidence from the Australian nonprofit sector, this research monograph offers insight into how nonprofit and voluntary organisations control and manage the costs of their operations and projects through cost accounting and cost management tools. The book will be of benefit to a range of stakeholders in the sector, including financial and management accountants, professional accounting bodies, the government, policymakers, academics, consultants and operational managers.
The essential reference to help federal contractors negotiate and maintain profitable contracts—Now in its third edition! This is the essential reference to help federal contractors negotiate and maintain profitable contracts—and remain in compliance throughout the life of the contract. Government contracting rules and regulations have changed significantly over the past six years. This new third edition addresses these changes and more: New thresholds for certification of cost and pricing data Revisions in cost accounting standards Implementation of commercial time-and-material and labor-hour contracts New, stringent ethics requirements Impact of stimulus funding Revised cost principles, including excessive pass-through costs, post-retirement benefits, and travel costs Redirected audit initiatives based on the GAO review of DCAA Plus…changed requirements for bidding…pricing…cost accounting…subcontracting…contract modification…all the information you need to be in compliance with the new rules. No other single book provides as much up-to-date federal procurement cost and pricing information in such a concise - yet comprehensive - format.
Policymakers and program managers are continually seeking ways to improve accountability in achieving an entity's mission. A key factor in improving accountability in achieving an entity's mission is to implement an effective internal control system. An effective internal control system helps an entity adapt to shifting environments, evolving demands, changing risks, and new priorities. As programs change and entities strive to improve operational processes and implement new technology, management continually evaluates its internal control system so that it is effective and updated when necessary. Section 3512 (c) and (d) of Title 31 of the United States Code (commonly known as the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA)) requires the Comptroller General to issue standards for internal control in the federal government.
Traditionally, economics training in public finances has focused more on tax than public expenditure issues, and within expenditure, more on policy considerations than the more mundane matters of public expenditure management. For many years, the IMF's Public Expenditure Management Division has answered specific questions raised by fiscal economists on such missions. Based on this experience, these guidelines arose from the need to provide a general overview of the principles and practices observed in three key aspects of public expenditure management: budget preparation, budget execution, and cash planning. For each aspect of public expenditure management, the guidelines identify separately the differing practices in four groups of countries - the francophone systems, the Commonwealth systems, Latin America, and those in the transition economies. Edited by Barry H. Potter and Jack Diamond, this publication is intended for a general fiscal, or a general budget, advisor interested in the macroeconomic dimension of public expenditure management.
Covers the strategic management topics in cost accounting. This title helps students to understand about the management and the role of cost accounting in helping an organization succeed. It addresses issues such as: How does a firm compete? and What type of cost management information is needed for a firm to succeed?
This book is a comprehensive guide to planning and implementing government contract cost accounting, required with U.S. federal government contracts. A team of eight leading experts in U.S. government contract management, project management, government contract cost accounting, and government contract law, have worked together to develop this unique book.
Financial Strategy for Public Managers is a new generation textbook for financial management in the public sector. It offers a thorough, applied, and concise introduction to the essential financial concepts and analytical tools that today's effective public servants need to know. It starts "at the beginning" and assumes no prior knowledge or experience in financial management. Throughout the text, Kioko and Marlowe emphasize how financial information can and should inform every aspect of public sector strategy, from routine procurement decisions to budget preparation to program design to major new policy initiatives. They draw upon dozens of real-world examples, cases, and applied problems to bring that relationship between information and strategy to life. Unlike other public financial management texts, the authors also integrate foundational principles across the government, non-profit, and "hybrid/for-benefit" sectors. Coverage includes basic principles of accounting and financial reporting, preparing and analyzing financial statements, cost analysis, and the process and politics of budget preparation. The text also includes several large case studies appropriate for class discussion and/or graded assignments.
Praise for Praise for Performance Management: Integrating Strategy Execution, Methodologies, Risk, and Analytics "A highly accessible collection of essays on contemporary thinking in performance management. Readers will get excellent overviews on the Balanced Scorecard, strategy maps, incentives, management accounting, activity-based costing, customer lifetime value, and sustainable shareholder value creation." —Robert S. Kaplan, Harvard Business School; coauthor of The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action, The Execution Premium, and many other books "Gary Cokins demonstrates in this book that performance management is not a mysterious black art, but a structured, process-oriented discipline. If you want your performance management system to be a smoothly running analytical machine, read and apply the ideas in this book—it's all you need." —Thomas H. Davenport, President's Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management, Babson College; coauthor of Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning "Drawing on a deep reservoir of knowledge and experience gained from hundreds of customer engagements around the world, Gary Cokins offers an authoritative examination of the major dimensions of performance management. Cokins not only paints a rich and textured view of the major principles and concepts driving performance management implementations, he offers a nuanced look at the important subtleties that can spell the difference between success and failure. This is an informative and enjoyable text to read!" —Wayne Eckerson, Director of Research, The Data Warehouse Institute (TDWI); author of Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business "[In this] very insightful book, the view of an integrated performance management framework with a goal to link various operational activities with business strategy is an excellent approach to manage and improve business. Gary's explanation of risk-based performance management, for providing the capability to achieve long-term objectives with reliably calculated risks, is definitely thought provoking." —Srini Pallia, Global Head and Vice President of Business Technology Services, Wipro Technologies, Bangalore, India "Gary Cokins is clearly one of the world's thought leaders in the area of performance management, and the need for integrated performance management, improvement and execution is clearly at a premium in these challenging economic times. This book is a must read for CEOs, CFOs, and management accountants around the globe seeking higher levels of sustainable business performance for their stakeholders." —Jeffrey C. Thomson, President and CEO, Institute of Management Accountants