Accounting, auditing, and financial reporting.

• Author: David, Irwin T.
• Position: From the Library - Excerpt from Journal of Financial Management - Brief Article - Excerpt

"Financial Information for Policy, Program, and Operating Officials"

Irwin T. David

Journal of Government Financial Management, Spring 2002, pp. 11-17.

Policy, program, and operating officials are the federal government's real financial managers, since they are the ones who use financial information to make critical day-to-day operating, strategic, investment, and policy decisions. Although audited financial statements certify the accuracy of financial statements as of one day of the year, these statements provide little useful information for management decision making. Policy, program, and operating officials require financial information that is tailored to their responsibilities. This information can be expressed in a hierarchy of financial needs similar to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of physiological needs. Beginning at the bottom of the pyramid, the financial needs are budget information, status of funds, financial information, cost management information, and cost/performance information. Ideally, these different levels of financial...