1. Accounting for Mission:
Government Accountancy and
Outcome Evaluation
Eva Witesman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Public Management
Brigham Young University
eva_witesman@byu.edu
Prepared for the 2014 Fall Symposium presented by the Northern Utah Association of Government Accountants

4. Although GAO does serve as the lead auditor of the
U.S. government’s consolidated financial statements, financial
audits
are only about 15 percent of GAO’s current workload.
Most of the agency’s work involves program evaluations,
policy analyses, and legal opinions and decisions on a broad
range
of government programs and activities both at home and abroad.
“

5. The scope of GAO’s work today includes virtually everything
the federal government is doing or thinking about doing
anywhere in the world.
GAO reports go beyond the question of whether federal funds
are being spent appropriately to ask whether federal programs
and policies
are meeting their objectives and the needs of society.
GAO looks at the results that departments and agencies are
getting
with the taxpayer dollars they receive.
“

6. Program Evaluation
Outcome Evaluation
Needs Assessment
Process Evaluation
Performance Measurement
Social Accounting
Double Bottom Line Accounting
Triple Bottom Line Accounting
Evidence-based Practice
Implementation Assessment
Impact AssessmentPerformance Auditing
Policy Analysis
Cost-benefit Analysis
Prospective Evaluation Synthesis
Outcome Monitoring

7. THE PARADIGM SHIFT
Old paradigm New paradigm
ETHICS Focuses on intentional fraud and abuse
Includes spending taxpayer money on
ineffective programs
TRANSPARENCY Make financial statements available
Examine and report on difficult-to-
measure outcomes
NEUTRALITY Avoid political debates and policy issues
Provide unbiased analysis to enhance
debates and policy considerations
SCOPE OF ANALYSIS Short-term financial information Long-term outcomes and impacts
ACCOUNTABILITY Following established rules Achieving mission and objectives
STEWARDSHIP Public money Public lives

8. The concept of holding government accountable
suggests an expanded role
for government accountancy.
It suggests the need to account for mission.

9. ACCOUNTING FOR MISSION
MISSION

10. ACCOUNTING FOR MISSION
ACTIVITIES MISSION

11. ACCOUNTING FOR MISSION
ACTIVITIES
LONG-TERM
OUTCOMES

12. ACCOUNTING FOR MISSION
INPUTS ACTIVITIES
LONG-TERM
OUTCOMES

13. ACCOUNTING FOR MISSION
INPUTS ACTIVITIES
SHORT-TERM
OUTCOMES
LONG-TERM
OUTCOMES

14. ACCOUNTING FOR MISSION
INPUTS ACTIVITIES
SHORT-TERM
OUTCOMES
INTERMEDIATE
OUTCOMES
LONG-TERM
OUTCOMES

15. ACCOUNTING FOR MISSION
INPUTS ACTIVITIES
SHORT-TERM
OUTCOMES
INTERMEDIATE
OUTCOMES
LONG-TERM
OUTCOMES
OTHER INFLUENTIAL FACTORS

16. A MISSION ORIENTATION
• Identify the mission and activities of the organization.
• Promote organizational accountability for mission and outcomes.
• Orient yourself to outcome and activity data that already exists.
• Leverage opportunities to gather better data.
• Apply your existing knowledge and skills to organize data better.
• Implement ways to monitor data better.
• Analyze data using a variety of techniques and methods.
• Make performance and outcome data transparent.

17. PROMISING MODELS AND APPROACHES
• Determine whether an entitlement program (or any program or policy
with an eligibility cutoff) is effective using regression discontinuity
analysis.
• Examine whether a new practice or policy is effective using interrupted
time series analysis.
• Consider the efficiency and comparative value of similar or competing
programs using cost-benefit analysis.

18. REGRESSION DISCONTINUITY
Probability of National School Graduation in Kenya Based on quality of secondary school
(Using standardized score cutoff)

19. INTERRUPTED TIME SERIES

20. COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS

21. It is not only what we do,
but also what we do not
do,
for which we are
accountable.
“
”― Molière