Project Pages

Service Efforts and Accomplishments—Project Plan

Project Description: The objective of this project is to encourage the use and reporting of Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA) performance information by:

(a) developing principle based suggested guidelines for voluntary reporting of performance information that will help officials effectively communicate the government’s SEA performance results in a way that the public will find meaningful and understandable, and

(b) a limited update of selected sections of Concepts Statement 2 based on information that has been gained through GASB’s combined research and to clarify the scope and limitations of SEA reports.

The scope of the overall project does not include:

• establishing the goals and objectives of a state or local government’s programs or activities,

• establishing specific non-financial performance measures for state or local government services, or

• establishing target or benchmark levels of performance that should be met by government services.

Background: Concepts Statement No. 1, Objectives of Financial Reporting, issued in 1987, details the objectives of financial reporting and serves as a guide for making decisions on financial reporting issues. In establishing the objectives for financial reporting, the Board gave considerable weight to the concept of accountability. From that concept, one important objective introduced in the Statement was that "financial reporting should provide information to assist users in assessing the service efforts, costs, and accomplishments of the governmental entity."

Concepts Statement No. 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting, issued in 1994, provided the opportunity to elaborate on accountability in government and the importance of reporting performance measures as part of general purpose external financial reporting. The Board stated that SEA information—both financial measures and nonfinancial performance measures—is an essential aspect of the measurement of governmental performance and is necessary for assessing accountability and in making informed decisions: "Therefore, to be more complete, general purpose external financial reporting needs to include service efforts and accomplishments information."

Project History

The Board began its focus on performance measures in 1984 when the project was included on the GASB’s original technical agenda. In 1985, the Board issued a resolution encouraging governments to experiment in this area. Beginning in 1990, a series of research reports titled Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting: Its Time Has Come were published. These reports analyzed the state of the art in SEA measurement and reporting for twelve service areas of state and local government. It defined the types of SEA measures and included a set of performance measures for each service area. The performance measures set forth in the reports were intended to serve as a starting point for those governments that wished to establish their own performance measures.

In the fall of 1997, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation provided the GASB with a significant grant to enhance its SEA research and to address performance measurement developmental needs for state and local government. The grant was renewed for an additional three years in 2000. In March 2004, it was renewed for a third and final time. The grant ran through September 2006.

This sponsored-research project had six phases: Phase I—Establish a Performance Measures Clearinghouse on the Internet; Phase II—Analyze and Evaluate the Effects of Using Performance Measures for Budgeting, Management, and Reporting; Phase III—Analyze and Evaluate Users’ Responses to Performance Measures; Phase IV—Develop a Set of Methods for Communicating Performance Measures and Distribute Criteria on Reporting and Effective Communication; Phase V—Encourage Experimentation with the Criteria and Encourage Use of Criteria by State and Local Governments; and Phase VI—Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Criteria and Assess Whether Performance Measures Possess the Characteristics Needed for Inclusion in General Purpose External Financial Reports.

Staff completed its work on the final phase (Phase VI) of the research in November 2006. The information gathered from the interviews and telephone survey was used to help evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested criteria and assess whether performance measures possess the characteristics needed for inclusion for general purpose external financial reporting. The findings from the field interviews and the telephone survey suggest that the information called for by the suggested criteria is considered of value in preparing SEA performance reports. The field interviews also provide evidence that the GASB’s continued work on performance reporting is considered important by those respondents. The report on the research findings was presented at the November-December 2006 Board meeting.

On November 28, 2006, the Board of Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation reaffirmed that the GASB has the jurisdictional authority to include "service efforts and accomplishments" in its financial accounting and reporting standards setting activities for state and local governmental entities.

On January 11, 2007, the Board held a roundtable meeting on SEA reporting in Washington DC. During the first quarter of 2007, staff developed a revised project prospectus to establish an active agenda project on SEA. It was discussed with the GASAC in March 2007.

In April 2007, the GASB added a project on SEA to its current agenda. Work on the project began in April 2007. Papers about the project objectives, scope, overall project issues and actions necessary for Part A – Principle based suggested guidelines for voluntary reporting of performance information and for Part B – Updating Concepts Statement 2 were prepared for Board consideration and review at the May and June Board meetings.

Work Plan

Phase I

Part A

Part B—To be performed concurrently with Part A

Phase II

Part A

Part B

Service Efforts and Accomplishments—Recent Developments

Minutes of Meeting, May 21-23, 2008

The Board reviewed a draft of the Request for Response, Suggested Guidelines for Voluntary Reporting of SEA Performance Information. The Board focused on the examples that were added by the staff to illustrate the guidelines. The Board discussed the types of information that should be presented and made recommendations to the staff on how to improve the examples. For the July meeting, the staff will prepare a preballot draft for discussion.

Minutes of Meeting, April 15-17, 2008

The Board reviewed a draft of the Suggested Guidelines for Voluntary Reporting of SEA Performance Information. The Board discussed the Introduction, the Essential Components of SEA Reports, and the Qualitative Characteristics of SEA Performance Information. The Board considered the information that should be included in the document, the relationship between the components and the characteristics, and the differences between SEA reports and the reporting of SEA performance information. The Board tentatively agreed that the document will be released as a “Request for Response”. For the May Board meeting, the staff will further develop the existing sections, as well as prepare the Notice to Recipients, Summary, examples of the components and characteristics, Background Information, and Glossary for the Board to consider. The service efforts and accomplishments reporting portion of the second-third 2008 Technical Plan was reviewed by the Board.

Minutes of Meeting, March 25, 2008 Teleconference

The Board discussed formatting issues and made suggestions for final changes to the ballot draft of proposed amendments to Concepts Statement No. 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting. Following the discussion, the Board unanimously approved the ballot draft for issuance.

Minutes of Meeting, March 4-6, 2008

The Board reviewed and discussed the preballot draft of the Exposure Draft of an amendment of Concepts Statement No. 2, Services Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting. Sections of the Exposure Draft that were discussed included the Notice of Public Hearing and Request for Written Comments, the Notice to Recipients, the Summary, and the sections of Concepts Statement 2 that were proposed to be amended or deleted, with changes tracked from the original version. The Background Information on the evolution of SEA reporting, the Basis for Conclusions, and the full text of the Concepts section of Concepts Statement 2, as amended by the proposed Exposure Draft, were also discussed. The Board discussed formatting issues and the arrangement of the document, and made suggestions for changes to the draft. Based on Board comments, a ballot draft of the Exposure Draft will be prepared for the March Board teleconference.

In addition, the Board considered the four proposed suggested guidelines and the wording included with the basic qualitative characteristics of SEA information. Tentative decisions were reached on the organization of the document. The Board also provided input on what information should be included in the Introduction section, as well as the other sections of the document.

Minutes of Meeting, January 22-24, 2008

The Board reviewed and discussed the first draft of the Exposure Draft of an amendment of Concepts Statement No. 2, Services Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting. Sections of the Exposure draft discussed included a Notice to Recipients, Summary, and the sections of Concepts Statement 2 that were proposed to be amended or deleted, with changes tracked from the original version. Background information on the evolution of SEA reporting, a Basis for Conclusions, and an amended version of Concepts Statement 2 with changes from the original version tracked for the amended sections and the new paragraph numbers for the entire document were also included in the discussion. The Board discussed formatting issues and made suggestions for changes to the draft. A preballot draft of the Exposure Draft based on Board comments will be prepared for the March Board meeting.

The Board continued a review and discussion of the 16 suggested criteria in the Special Report, Reporting Performance Information: Suggested Criteria for Effective Communication, by focusing on potential combinations of the original suggested criteria proposed by the staff. The Board also discussed qualitative characteristics of information associated with the suggested criteria for SEA reporting.The Board considered and tentatively concluded that objectivity is not a basic qualitative characteristic of SEA information; however, the notion of objectivity is included within the other basic characteristics and should be addressed in the due process document.

The Board agreed that the next step in drafting the due process document should focus on the section of the document that introduces and discusses the proposed voluntary guidelines.

Minutes of Meeting, December 11-13, 2007

The Board discussed two papers for this project. The Board reviewed changes made as a result of the October Board discussion of suggestions for updates and revisions of the Limitations of SEA Information and Enhancing the Usefulness of SEA Information sections of Concepts Statement No. 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting (paragraphs 67 and 68 in the original). The discussion also included Board consideration of staff recommendations to eliminate significant portions of the Developing Reporting Standards for SEA Information section of Concepts Statement 2 (paragraphs 69–77 in the original), which the Board tentatively agreed with.

The Board continued a review and discussion of the 16 suggested criteria in the Special Report, Reporting Performance Information: Suggested Criteria for Effective Communication, by focusing on possible combinations of the original suggested criteria proposed by the staff.

A significant amount of Board deliberations focused on developing a set of basic reporting criteria. That discussion led into a preliminary examination of additional factors that support the basic reporting criteria, which will continue at the January Board meeting.

Minutes of Meeting, October 30-31, 2007

The Board explored actions to guide the development of the proposed update of the Limitations of SEA Information and Enhancing the Usefulness of SEA Information sections of Concepts Statement No. 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting (paragraphs 67 and 68 in the original). The discussion included Board consideration of staff recommendations for updates and revisions to these sections of the Concepts Statement and Board suggestions for updates and revisions of the related paragraphs. The Board also reviewed changes to the Elements of SEA Reporting and Explanatory Information sections of Concepts Statement 2 (paragraph 50 and paragraphs 51 and 52, respectively, in the original) based on Board comments from the September Board meeting and tentatively agreed with the proposed changes with some clarifications and wording modifications.

The Board continued a review and discussion of the 16 suggested criteria in the Special Report, Reporting Performance Information: Suggested Criteria for Effective Communication, by focusing on the understandability characteristic. The Board considered staff recommendations for modifications to the six suggested criteria that relate closely to the understandability characteristic. The Board also suggested modifications to each of the six suggested criteria discussed and tentatively agreed to consider the potential for future consolidation of the criteria. The staff will take the Board’s suggested modifications and prepare a revised document for Board consideration at the December meeting. The Board will continue the discussion of the suggested criteria with consideration of the comparability, timeliness, consistency, and reliability characteristics (paragraphs 63–66) from Concepts Statement 2 and related suggested criteria at that meeting.

Minutes of Meeting, September 18-19, 2007

The Board explored actions to guide the proposed update of “The Elements of SEA Reporting” section of Concepts Statement No. 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting. The discussion included Board consideration of staff recommendations for updates and revisions to Concepts Statement 2, including the following SEA reporting elements: service efforts, service accomplishments, the relation of service efforts to accomplishments, and explanatory information. The discussion also included Board suggestions for updates and revisions of these paragraphs. The Board asked the staff to take the suggestions from the discussion and prepare a revised draft of this section of the Concepts Statement for Board consideration.

The Board began a review and discussion of the 16 suggested criteria in the Special Report, Reporting Performance Information: Suggested Criteria for Effective Communication, by focusing on the relevance characteristic. The Board considered staff recommendations for modifications to the six suggested criteria that relate closely to the relevance characteristic. The Board also suggested modifications for each of the six suggested criteria discussed and agreed to consider the potential for future consolidation of the criteria. The staff will take the Board’s suggestions for modification and prepare a revised document for Board consideration. The Board will continue the discussion of the suggested criteria with consideration of the understandability characteristic (paragraphs 59–62) from Concepts Statement 2 and related suggested criteria at the October Board meeting.

Minutes of Meeting, August 7-9, 2007

The Board began exploring actions necessary to guide the limited scope update of Concepts Statement No. 2, Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting, with initial discussions of Part B of the SEA project including: the project objective, scope, and overall project issues presented in the June 2006 paper. The Board generally agreed with the project objective, scope, and overall project issues and made suggestions for several modifications to these components. The Board then considered the August 2007 paper (Issue 3, Paper 2) outlining staff recommendations for updates to the purpose and scope sections of Concepts Statement 2. The Board generally agreed with the staff recommendation for updates to these two sections of the Concepts Statement.

The Board began discussions of “overarching principles” to guide development of principles-based suggested guidelines for voluntary reporting and considered the background information about certain themes that have guided staff research over the past nine years (Issue 3, Paper 1). For the next meeting, the Board asked the staff to prepare an analysis of the 16 suggested criteria and the 6 characteristics of reporting performance information to help the Board identify an appropriate approach for developing the guidelines.

Minutes of Meeting, May 1-3, 2007

The Board began initial discussions of Part A of the Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA) Reporting project, including the project objective, scope, and overall project issues, and began exploring actions necessary to guide the development a due process document that addresses principals-based suggested guidelines for voluntary reporting of SEA performance information. The Board generally agreed with the project objective, scope, and overall project issues as stated in the Board paper and made suggestions for several additions to these components.

Service Efforts and Accomplishments—Relevant Links