Title: ED Chat Part I: Ms. Valentine Interviews Ms. Payne Description: This is the first of two podcasts featuring FASAB's outgoing executive director, Ms. Wendy Payne, and FASAB's incoming executive director, Ms. Monica Valentine. Wendy and Monica are only the second and third executive directors since FASAB's inception in 1990, and they'll be sharing their experiences from the 28 years that they've worked together. In this podcast, Monica is asking Wendy about her time at FASAB. Released: October 28, 2019 [ Leigha Kiger: ] Welcome to "FASAB Bits and Bytes," your source for quick takes and news from the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board. I'm Leigha Kiger. This is the first of two podcasts featuring FASAB's outgoing executive director, Ms. Wendy Payne, and FASAB's incoming executive director, Ms. Monica Valentine. Wendy and Monica are only the second and third executive directors since FASAB's inception in 1990, and they'll be sharing their experiences from the 28 years that they've worked together. In this podcast, Monica is asking Wendy about her time at FASAB. [ Monica Valentine: ] Wendy, I have a few questions for you about your 30-plus-year career with the federal government, most of those years with FASAB. What were your initial feelings about being selected as the second FASAB executive director back in 1997? If you could go back, what advice would you give yourself when you became executive director? [ Wendy Payne: ] My very first reaction, Monica, was fear. FASAB was relatively new. And, as you remember, in the first few years we were completing a comprehensive set of accounting standards. There was a great deal of political pressure, and after those standards were completed, which was a major accomplishment for our first executive director, Ron Young, the sense was, "Well, where do we go now?" So there was a period of transition from that first drive, and we had no policies and procedures. We had been moving so quickly - there was very little documentation about our mission and how do we go about accomplishing our mission. If I could go back, my advice to myself would be: realize how much people want to help. I've been so amazed during all these years that if you ask people to help you, most of them want to. And the community really is generous with their time and talents. [ Monica Valentine: ] What do you see as your top three greatest FASAB achievements? [Wendy Payne:] As you know, the - FASAB is a collaborative body. So it's an incredible way to bring together a lot of people with an incredible amount of talent and diverse viewpoints. I think the thing that I would own the most really is the quality of the staff. You can't get anything done without top quality staff. It's been a real pleasure to recruit people to join the staff, to retain them, and watch them grow. So I think that's one of the keys to long-term success with FASAB. After that I would count a couple of major milestones. One was achieving rule 203 status. And, as a reminder back to accomplishment one, rule 203 status really depends on having the right resources, and that includes quality staff, quality Board members, and an excellent process. The third is the statement of social insurance, which was a precursor to the fiscal sustainability. So I'll get a "two for" there by combining the projected financial statements. It's really - internationally we're the only standard-setting body who requires it, and that projected information really is essential for a national government. [ Monica Valentine: ] What do you believe is the greatest impact that FASAB has had on the federal financial reporting community? [Wendy Payne:] The pride, I think, of being part of a profession. When we first started in the 90s, there was a sense of we're doing fine, but we're all doing what we want to do. We're good at making things work. But when you have the discipline of being part of a profession, whether you're a CPA or a CGFM, and there are core standards, there's a pride associated with that. The - "I'm executing in accordance with generally accepted principles. I'm rising to meet a bar, the audit." We created a profession within government financial management. [ Monica Valentine: ] If you could give FASAB one last year, that is if your husband would allow it, what would be your top priority to accomplish? [Wendy Payne:] Well, this is terribly geeky of me, but I suppose you can't be an intensely accounting standards-setting-oriented person without liking concepts. I would make it a priority to review the conceptual framework. It evolved over 20 plus years. And I think there are internal consistencies, but I also think, just by its size and complicated organizational structure, it doesn't hold together well. [ Monica Valentine: ] Note taken. What are your top three pieces of advice for the next FASAB executive director? [Wendy Payne:] Well, Monica, when I was appointed executive director, I asked friends because I had no supervisory experience. It was a complete shock to suddenly be in that seat. The piece of advice that I got, and I would repeat it three times, was watch out for your troops. I recall vividly in one staff meeting, not too long ago, I referred collectively to the staff as my staff, and one of the people present said, "Well, are we your staff or are we the Board's staff?" And of course I answered immediately that you were my staff. And that's not to say that you serve me. It's really to say that I serve you. The staff really become your responsibility to make sure they have what they need to succeed, to know that they are appreciated for what they achieve, and also to protect them if they stumble. So I say collectively that's watching out for your troops. [ Monica Valentine: ] If you were queen for the day, what direction would you take federal financial reporting? [Wendy Payne:] Honestly, federal financial reporting is so much better than it was before. I think the impression that the report itself needs to be a bestseller is a bit misguided. It's a little bit like good housekeeping. You get a financial report. You have it audited. Should it be readable? Yes. It should be a platform. Yes. But it shouldn't be compliance oriented. It should be creative. And my direction would be really establishing a collective vision for that creativity to take hold. My thinking is that if each CFO office - and I see some signs that many are performing this function - if each CFO office were meeting management's needs for financial information, connecting financial information to performance to help managers make decisions, the vision would evolve from that, so that the information they shared publicly on their websites would be relevant with the right level of reliability, and the right reach, so that it would reach to the heart of issues that politicians were interested in, agency executives, and stakeholders. The average citizen or somebody who's interested in a particular program would be able to come to a website and marry up all the information they needed in one source. [ Monica Valentine: ] Well, Wendy, that concludes our podcast for "FASAB Bits and Bytes" for today. Thank you so much for your insight. [Wendy Payne:] Thank you, Monica. [ Leigha Kiger: ] Thank you for listening to "FASAB Bits and Bytes." I'm Leigha Kiger. For more from FASAB, please visit us at fasab.gov. Also be sure to check out part two of the series when the roles are reversed, and Wendy interviews Monica.