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ROLE 1: Audit Performance or PM Systems
Practice 1b. Audit performance management systems: Audit or assess existing performance management systems or practices.
Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts [Profile]
When the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts (APA) audits a sample of performance measures of state agencies each year for completeness and accuracy, and audits performance targets for reasonableness (see Practice 2a. Test relevance or reliability), APA also reviews aspects of statewide performance management systems and practices. This has particularly been true in recent years, as APA has been reviewing the progress of major system changes in the Virginia state government. Legislation driving these changes since 2003 has charged the new Council on Virginia’s Future with defining long-term state objectives and integrating agency performance into an overall framework of measures that support those objectives. The APA has been active in assessing Virginia’s 2006 reorganization of performance measures and introduction of a multilevel system including a new Virginia Performs website that reports societal and quality of life indicators, along with agency performance measures.
Many recommendations in the annual reports presented by the APA to the General Assembly and Governor address ways of improving performance measurement statewide. The Auditor of Public Accounts is statutorily required (Section 30-133 of the Code of Virginia) to review and report annually to the General Assembly and Governor on the performance measures that state agencies report to the Department of Planning and Budget. For example, recommendations from performance measure reviews of Fiscal 2005 and 2006 that address improving the performance measurement system statewide include:
- Having the Department of Planning and Budget develop an ongoing systematic process for reviewing and refining existing and new measures, so that an average user can understand each measure.
- Having the Department of Planning and Budget and the Council on Virginia’s Future identify a core set of agency services for which efficiency measures are most important and develop a methodology for obtaining and reporting efficiency data.
- Having the Governor and General Assembly plan for the long-term leadership of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s performance management system.
- Having the governor clearly define roles and responsibilities of central agencies, such as the Department of Planning and Budget, and individual state agencies, for performance information reported on the Virginia Performs website, including clearly defining data ownership responsibilities.
- Having adequate user access controls. Adequate user access controls will be necessary to ensure the integrity of the data reported in the new performance management system and on the Virginia Performs website.
- Posting agency strategic plans on the web for public access, and providing links to agency strategic plans on appropriate pages of the Virginia Performs website.
In its annual reports on agency performance measures and state performance management systems, the APA has noted progress made, improvements needed, and necessary next steps for advancing statewide systems. For example, the 2005 report noted progress in making outcome measures more prominent in agency reporting, and suggested that the next challenge in the evolution of the Commonwealth’s performance management system will be to develop and use efficiency measures together with outcome measures. The 2006 report noted progress of agencies publishing their strategic plans on their websites, and suggested that the Department of Planning and Budget could generally help agencies strengthen their measurement and reporting practices by consolidating their various guidance documents and increasing guidance provided to agencies.
The APA has been able to spend more time on these higher value audit activities because less time is now spent on following up with agencies in order to get them to report performance data.
Reports:
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