Institute of Internal Auditors Tallahassee Chapter

1. Institute of Internal AuditorsTallahassee Chapter Taking Responsibility for and Pride in Your Government Career Sam M. McCall, PhD, CPA, CGFM, CIA, CGAP City Auditor – City of Tallahassee March 28, 2013

2. What Are The Career Learning Lessons That We Should Share With Staff • You are (Your Organization is) perfectly designed to expect the results achieved • Try to learn something new every day • As a professional strive to be viewed as fair • Focus on weaknesses in systems of internal control and not the individual • In all of our actions, we should search for the truth and our audit reports should be clear enough to be proven wrong • Take pride in being a government auditing professional

3. Some Things to Keep in Mind • The best way to keep your job is to get it done • You need to take care of what you can control • When you lose access, you really have a problem - by the time you know that you have a problem, it is likely too late • We work in a political environment • No one is indispensable • No matter how secure you may feel you are, most of us (government employees) are only a couple of paychecks from a financial problem – Anita Favors Thompson • Hopefully, I will share some things with you today that can have meaning to you

5. Career Goals • Work hard for your employer, but also do some things for yourself • What will working 12 hours a day, seven days a week get you? • If you have not already done so, prepare a written career assessment • Where are you in your career? If you lost your job, what would be on your resume that would make an employer interested in you? • What role do you want to play in the future of your organization or in another organization? • What plans have you made to reach your career goals? • Have you established a timeline for accomplishment? • Are you serious and honest with yourself or are you just trying to make yourself feel better?

6. Education • Education - you can not have too much • You are never too old to learn • Why an advanced degree or additional education • It builds confidence • It makes one realize there are theories for what we do and how we think • Why the MPA, MBA, or any other advanced degree • It broadens your thinking. • Why the PhD - giving up was not an option • We are “reflective practitioners” and reframe questions • As professionals, we should absorb information like a sponge – be inquisitive, listen, and collect evidence

7. Certifications • CPA • CGFM • CIA, CGAP • CFE • CISA • Others? • You do not have to pass an exam the very first time – have a plan for accomplishment over time • A certification is something you can take with you in your career and anywhere you go

8. Networking is Critically Important to Your Career • Be professionally involved • NCSL • NLPES , NALFO, GASAC, travel opportunities • IIA - Guidance Task Force • AGA – Being National President started in a “zoo” • AICPA Rule 203 Committee – Now a FASAB member • Often, it is organization staff that are helpful to your career • Being the head or a leader in an organization does not equate to being uninvolved professionally

9. Have Something to Say that is Important • If you do not take yourself serious, no one else will • Try to put what is important into perspective • To succeed you must be able to persuade people that you are someone to take seriously, that your advice has a marketable value, and that your judgment deserves respect • Let staff make mistakes that do not cause significant harm to the organization • So you want to be published • What do you want to say? • Where do you want it to be published? • When do you want it to be published? • When should you get started?

10. “Be a Coach and Not a Catcher” Jim Thomas • Do you help the organization solve problems or are you known as having an “I got you” mentality • What does it take to gain managements trust • Being fair • Being consistent • Do not play games • Do not make yourself look good at others expense • Do not oversell “The auditor’s findings” – you likely did not “find” anything that management did not already know • We need to be independent but also should not hide behind our independence to the point that we are of no help to the organization - there is no topic that we should refuse to audit

11. What Kind of Supervisor are You • Controlling and always counting time • Allowing staff to grow • Recognizing staff work better when not under pressure and when they are not afraid of losing their job • There are two forms of supervision (1) to punish or (2) to train • Staff need slack time to be innovative • The office is more important than the individual • Some people are nice; however they just may not be cut out to be an auditor • One should not mistake kindness as a weakness

12. Building Teams • Expect the best of employees • See the need to trust each other • If trust is lost, there is normally only one way to regain that trust • Confront the person and issue • What to do if you truly do not like a co-worker • Identify what they do that helps you to accomplish your job and focus on that • People bother you because you let them bother you • The only one that can make you feel inferior is you • Continually communicate

13. Treat Staff as the Important Asset They Are • The two most important decisions a person can make in their career 1. To join an organization 2. To stay with that organization • Treat each employee as the important asset that they are • Do not give an employee an assignment that will cause them to fail • Your reputation and your career depends on staff doing their job

16. It’s Your Career – Take Responsibility for What You Can Control and Help Others • Are you living your career like a hermit? • Are you • Technician, politician, or entrepreneur? • Step out of your shell and environment • How do you move up in your profession if you are not the head of the organization? • How do you get to meet legislative leaders? Probably not through your day to day work • By providing access for staff where might it lead? • Take pride in the accomplishments of staff – encourage them to be professionally involved

17. Be Proud of What You Do • Help the organization succeed • Be viewed as fair • The organization is not your enemy • Management is not your enemy – they also are not your partner • Staff is not your enemy – if they quit working you will loose your job • Don’t be afraid to tell staff “You did a good job!’ • Seek feedback from auditees

20. Learn from disappointments • There are worst things than losing your job – it can be very liberating • A disappointment is an opportunity to reassess the situation and move forward • For many positions, those choosing cannot make a bad choice • Advancement is a combination of skill, timing, and being in the right place at the right time

22. Set Short and Long Term Goals and Measure What you Do • Education • Certifications • Publications • Networking and Professional involvement • Prepare a 5-10 page Career Assessment on where you are, where you want to be, and how you plan to get there. Be honest with yourself • Recognize that important things take time. Therefore be demanding of yourself but also know when to be patient with yourself. You are probably your toughest critic. After all, who knows you better than you

25. Some Additional Tidbits • Auditors need to have: • Hindsight • Insight • Foresight • With light comes heat and with heat comes action – “David Walker” • Supervisors engage the hands • Managers engage the minds • Leaders engage the heart • Sometimes I lie awake at night and ask what went wrong and then I hear a little voice that says “this is going to take more than one night!” • Silence is at its golden best when you keep it long enough to get all the facts

26. Graham Allison • The sharpest distinction between public and private management is a fundamental constitutional difference. In business management is centralized into the CEO. In government, management involves the two houses of Congress, the executive head, and the courts. The goal is not efficiency, but to preclude the exercise of arbitrary power.

27. Graham Allison • Equity and efficiency – government focus is on equity and in the private sector the focus is on efficiency and competitive performance • Public vs. private problem solving – in government there is public scrutiny and in the private sector problems are solved internally • Press and media – government is in the sunshine and in the private sector reporting to the press is less frequent

28. “Citizen Focus” Barbara Jordan - “Citizens allow us to be where we are and to do what we do.” As Financial Managers we need to have a citizen focus in our work. Woodrow Wilson on Government – “Why do we go about criticizing what we should be creating?”We need to celebrate our accomplishments. George Frederickson, The Spirit of Public Administration -“We should act as representative citizens.”As Financial Managers we need to always act in the best interest of our organization and our citizens. Plato asked, “How can government be organized to locate power and wisdom in the same place?” “Accountability Reporting with a Citizen Focus”

29. Waldo on Efficiency • Efficiency is of primary concern in business operating in capitalistic markets, but in government, equity, consensus, and satisfaction are of interest in democratic processes, but none of these criteria are necessarily efficient, indeed they are often inescapably inefficient. • There is truth to the idea that efficiency and democracy may sometimes be opposites in government • Government is not about efficiency, it is about democracy and that is often inefficient

30. Thank you