WHAT WE NEED

President Obama’s administration’s bottom up management style of government is key to addressing these government-wide financial management failures. This effort centers around the use of a Government Accounting Prototype (GAP) that is based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and uses an integrated accounting and budgeting approach to promote better communication and understanding between our government’s disparate and competing accounting and budgeting communities; this is possible because with GAP’s GAAP-based design all accounting and budgeting financial statements are generated from a single trial balance.  A few of GAP’s notable features include the following:  (1) the GAP accounting model is based upon a modified version of proven AICPA private sector accounting standards that were adapted to accommodate government’s unique accounting and budgeting needs, (2) the GAP accounting model compares on a one-for-one basis with the AICPA private sector standard and thus is easily explained, tested and implemented, and (3) just as the AICPA standard accommodates the unique accounting needs of all private sector businesses, the GAP accounting model  accommodates the accounting and budgeting needs of all governments, federal, state, and local.  A scaled down version of GAP is illustrated in the TGAR website, http://www.tgar.org.   Again, please recall from the home page that the use of a government-wide GAAP-based accounting standard (GAP or any other model) is imperative because without it there is no basis to test our government’s financial software (and the generation of all accounting and budgeting financial statements from a single trial balance). 

Government-wide acceptance of this GAP (or any GAAP-based) model will also require a rethinking of a number of other changes that must be made to realize the full benefit of both a GAAP-based accounting standard and the latest financial software technology.  Some of those key changes are listed below:

• Executive and Legislative branch transition from its two hundred-plus year practice of using four digit budget object class (BOC’s) codes to general ledger accounts (GLA’s). 
  
  
• Upgrade the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) requirement to include a minimal 4-year accounting degree requirement for all GS-0510 series professional accountants,
  
  
• The OPM GS-0510 requirement should apply to all the Central Agencies’ Executive Schedule (EX) Schedule appointee positions and all GS-9 through GS-15 positions involved in either the design of the government’s accounting or financial software standards, 
  
  
• The OPM GS-0510 requirement should also apply to each of the 24 CFO Act agency’s Office of the Chief Financial Offices (OCFO’s) Executive (EX) Schedule appointee positions and all GS-9 through GS-15 positions; this is because these OCFO offices deal exclusively with that agency’s accounting and / or financial system related functions,  
  
  
• Transition all government budgeting-related positions (GS-0560 series) to professional accountant (GS-0510 series).  This is necessary because of the redundancies (and wasted tax dollars) of using two separate, disparate, and irreconcilable accounting and budgeting processes.  With a single GAAP-based integrated accounting and budgeting standard that generates all accounting and budgeting financial statements from a single trial balance, it is important that we are all speaking the same language (budget analysts, system accountants, cost accountants, and operation accountants).  
   
  
•  Government-wide inventory of the educational backgrounds of all career service GS 9 through GS 15 staff and management positions within the Central Agencies and Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) involved in accounting and or financial system related functions.  This is especially important given our government’s top down and repressive management style.  We cannot fix this government’s financial management-related problems unless we have 4 year degreed accountants and Certified Public Accountants in staff and management positions.  It is important, however, that the government’s credentialed accountants work with our government’s current managers so that we can learn the current operation and then transition to a GAAP-based standard.
  
  

Finally, in order to have the necessary exchange of accounting and systems related concepts with Congress, the Central Agencies, and the CFO Act agencies, and our government’s budget offices, Congress should: 

0. pass real and meaningful whistleblower protection legislation,
   
   
0. identify real penalties for those public servants who routinely violate our Constitution and Congress’ laws,  
   
   
0. address the failures of the Office of Special Counsel and the Merit Systems Protection Board to protect government employees, including whistleblowers, from the prohibited personnel practices (PPP’s) of employing agencies, and 
   
   
0. pass a government version of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 to show the American people (and our government accountants) that Congress is as interested in providing an accurate accounting of our tax dollars as it was in addressing the Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco accountability failures.