ROLE 1: Audit Performance or PM Systems
Practice 1a. Audit performance: Measure or assess performance during an audit or other study based on authoritative auditing standards.
Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) [Profile]
In the years following passage of Florida’s Government Performance and Accountability Act of 1994, OPPAGA played a key role, along with the governor’s office and agency staff, in agencies developing and reporting relevant, reliable performance measures as part of the state’s Performance Based Program Budgeting (PB2) system (e.g., see Practice 2a. Test relevance or reliability). In more recent years, as PB2 performance data improved, OPPAGA became a user of the data for its audits and studies. For example, OPPAGA used the PB2 measure of the food stamp error rate to find that high food stamp error rates cost the state $2.2 million for Fiscal Years 2001 and 2002. However, PB2 measures and other agency data may not always adequately reflect aspects of performance OPPAGA is reviewing as part of an audit. In those cases, OPPAGA analysts will develop their own measures and collect data to meet their audit objectives. Also, sometimes the legislature will want OPPAGA to take a deeper look to evaluate policies or programs whose effects may not be apparent in the PB2 data. For example, in 2002 the legislature directed OPPAGA to examine the likely effect of “Bright Futures” scholarships on high school students’ course selections and academic performance, which required more detailed information than available from the generally strong Department of Education PB2 measures. “Bright Futures” scholarships are given to students taking 15 hours of demanding college preparatory courses who earn a 3.5 grade average and score well on college entrance exams. To determine whether students selected more rigorous courses after the scholarships became available, OPPAGA obtained Department of Education databases containing student transcripts and test scores and analyzed the course selections of students who were in school before and after the scholarships became available in 1997. From this analysis, OPPAGA was able to conclude that, although other factors may have contributed, students who were eligible for the “Bright Futures” scholarships took more demanding courses and performed better than students who graduated before the scholarships became available.
OPPAGA now tracks the implementation of prior recommendations made to state agencies and Florida Legislature in follow-up reports issued 18 to 24 months after a previous report, which are posted to the OPPAGA website. Over the past two years, these progress reports have determined that agencies and the Legislature have implemented 73% of recommendations, a percentage which tends to increase over time as some recommendations take several years to implement.
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