Prune Book

With the United States facing multibillion dollar deficits and resistant problems at home and abroad, how well is the federal government handling its critical financial responsibilities? By any measure, effective financial management - better accountability, faster, more accurate and consistent information - is critical to devising solutions and making them work. Recently enacted legislation has directed a sweeping overhaul and strengthening of federal financial management from top to bottom. It established in the two dozen most important government agencies a new breed of senior executive, the chief financial officer, with new authority and responsibilities. Will it work? Do these financial managers have too much authority - or not enough? Can they, and the comptrollers, accountants, budgeteers and others who work for them, win the confidence and attention of their established colleagues who run government's many programs? Such issues figure prominently in this latest volume in the Prune Book series. It examines the 45 key financial and other high-level jobs responsible for managing, accounting for, and protecting many hundreds of billions of dollars in federal money. These are the funds that run federal activities, pay for education and research grants, and support loan guarantee and other programs, some of which pose real or potential liabilities of giant proportions. Interviews with nearly a hundred occupants of financial management positions, and with some of their predecessors and observers, are the foundation of this volume. All have first-hand knowledge of the positions examined. Each job profile contains biographic information about its incumbent and a list of previousoccupants since 1973. Books in the Prune series represent an unmatched resource for those, inside and outside government, who want to know how senior, mostly presidentially appointed, positions function, what the challenges are, and what kinds of personal credentials are required.