The Hatfield School at Portland State University--in conjunction with the state controller offices from Washington, Nevada, Alaska, Idaho, and Oregon—formed a project on April 6, 2004 to explore the feasibility of modernizing, deepening, and identifying channels for delivering a contemporary curriculum that meets current and future needs for financial management of public sector enterprises.

An Unfolding Predicament

The founding participants acknowledged that their enterprises are in the midst of, or are about to face, a substantial turnover in management and executive talent in their financial management organizations.

The refreshment queue appears to be inadequate for replacing the estimated loss of seasoned talent.

Background

Customarily, certified public accountants (CPAs) were best prepared for financial management and leadership positions, but they were educated by schools of business where governmental accounting was usually an afterthought, a single course in most cases.  Elsewhere, public administration programs have focused primarily on budget formulation and execution, but have been willing to cede the accounting discipline and evolving tenets of financial management to the business schools. 

With the possible exception of Rutgers University's school of business, neither the business nor the public affairs/administration programs around the U.S. has a robust 21st century curriculum in which one might earn a certificate, bachelors, or masters degree in public financial management, the likely disciplines of which include: public sector accounting, auditing, asset management, internal controls, information and communication systems, performance measurement/management, strategic sourcing (procurement) & supply chain management, cash & credit management, etc.

Also looming on the horizon is a dramatic talent turnover of leading professors, authors, and public financial management Masters; the public financial management discipline's chief theologians are about to retire.

Public Sector Enterprises Face a Strategic Choice

Faced with the unfolding brain drain, public enterprises face a several choices for developing replacement talent: 

• Continue to recruit business school accountants (episodically) and attempt to retrofit them with public sector practices;
• Develop on their own or in partnership with a local university a suitable 21st Century financial management curriculum; or,
• Participate in a Western Region cooperative of governments, association, universities, and even private sector accountancies (a.k.a. "The Coalition of the Committed") to share a core curriculum, teaching assets, delivery venues, across the region.

A Coalition of the Committed

The founding members committed to forming the Cooperative for Contemporary Curricula in Financial Management to explore the feasibility of a Western Region financial management education partnership.

The founding members heard from representatives of the Hatfield School that it would be willing to serve in the role of "first among equals" by housing a project to establish the feasibility of such an approach and to poll other universities in the region to determine the availability of suitable financial management faculty and teaching resources.

Project Launch and Next Steps

The Hatfield School offered a project manager to help launch the project and organize the following next steps:

Identify institutional, association, commercial stakeholders in the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Invite these prospective stakeholders to participate in a 45-minute, internet-based briefing that was held on Thursday August 12, 2004. Its objectives were to:

• Establish if the financial management turnover of key talent is a universal condition
• Expand the dialogue and share information
• Propose a project to examine the feasibility of defining and delivering contemporary financial management training and education through a Western states network.
• Enlist participation in the Cooperative for Contemporary Curricula in Financial Management Project through a formal registration process.

View the Webcast!

Click here to view an archived version of the webcast held on August 12.

Join the Project!

Fill out the online form, below, and the Hatfield School will keep you informed about the status of the project via email and through its C3FM Project Intranet site.

Sign Us Up! Add me to the C3FM mail list.  I want to stay informed of project developments.
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My organization will consider underwriting a small, pro rata share of the project (once we review the project plan):
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Subject to reviewing the C3FM project plan, my organization will consider participating in a work group (likely on curriculum development, identification of regional resources, demand forecasting, and establishing operational and economic feasibility):
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