B&G Report

Episode Two: Inappropriate Computer Access - We don’t recall any performance auditors complaining to us about the frustration they must feel when they find similar operational shortcomings repeated year after year. But we can only speculate that even the most patient and understanding of auditors must want to tear their hair out when they see that governmental agencies seem condemned to repeat past problems despite the performance auditors’ good work. Hence the Sisyphus title

On Tuesday evening, we got a phone call to tell us that Harry P. Hatry, the renowned, respected and remarkable leader in the world of #performancemanagement had died, at age 92, from complications that followed a case of pneumonia. That call came from his life partner, Carol Lee Rubin, who went on to tell us that Harry had asked that we write an obituary for him, when the time came. For years, Harry had been a supporter, colleague and mentor of ours, and so we were honored by

By Eric S. Berman, MSA, CPA, CGMA and Dr. Bradford Rockabrand CPA, CIA, MBA, Partners, Eide Bailly, LLP Eric Berman Bradford Rockabrand Many of the articles written about the shortage of qualified workers in state and local government have missed an area that should be a concern to public sector leaders as well as taxpayers. I’m referring to the talent gap in fiscal offices nationwide. The reasons for this are many, but here are a few of the outstanding ones: The lack of co

Public sector human services professionals tend to go into their field to spend time with lower-income families who are in need of benefits and services. And yet, many of those hours are often siphoned off to performing administrative tasks. This has been a source of intense frustration, but here’s the good news: The future may be different. In late 2022, we spoke with dozens of professionals in many different government fields in order to write about the future of government

Cities, counties and states from coast to coast are cultivating efforts to create a more diverse workforce – one that mirrors the communities which they serve in terms of race, ethnicity and gender. Among the efforts they’re embarking upon include trying to identify and reduce implicit racism among the people who are doing the hiring; cultivating public-facing images and messaging to emphasize how diversity is a priority in their workplaces; strengthening pipelines to communi

By Elizabeth Linos, Emma Bloomberg Associate Professor of Public Policy and Management, Harvard Kennedy School and Faculty Director, The People Lab. ​ ​ The crises of the past few years have brought with them a rallying cry for more evidence in government; a call to “follow the science” and “lead with data.” And governments have responded. Public sector leaders from local governments all the way to the White House have celebrated the use of evidence in practice, and many are