Engaging. Collaborative. Accomplished
Budgets, beers, CAFRs, and PAFRS – what else could you ask for from the ELGL and OMFOA event this week. Toby LaFrance, Tigard finance director and Casey Camors, Milwaukie finance director came prepared with memes, games, and war stories. The topic at hand was “Using a Budget Document as a Communication Tool.” While we covered this topic, we also learned about fraud, transparency, the 8Cs, and the role of the auditor. You can view the presentation and handouts at FINANCE DOCUMENTS AS COMMUNICATIONS TOOLS PRESENTATION.
Special thanks to OMFOA for their help in coordinating and communicating the forum. We look forward to future partnerships. Now let’s learn a few things about our Knopes of the Week.
Background Check
Casey A. Camors, Finance Director joined the City of Milwaukie as a full-time employee in September of 2013. Prior to that, Casey was the Deputy Chief Financial Officer for the City of West Linn and served as the Contract Finance Director of the City of Milwaukie in partner with Richard Seals, the Chief Financial Officer for the City of West Linn.
Casey joined the City of West Linn in March of 2009 after spending two years with Talbot, Korvola and Warwick, LLP (TKW) as a Senior Auditor. Prior to joining TKW, Casey spent four years with Isler Medford, LLC, ultimately being promoted to a Senior Auditor position.
She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with focus in Accounting from Oregon State University in 2003. She obtained her Oregon CPA designation in 2006 and was admitted to the Municipal Auditors Roster in 2007. Mrs. Camors recently earned two additional professional certifications, Certified Public Finance Officer (CPFO) through the Governmental Finance Officers Association in 2012 and the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) through the Institute of Management Accountants in 2011.
Toby LaFrance, Finance Director joined the City of Tigard in 2008. Prior to arriving in Tigard, Toby worked as finance manager for Clark County for the last seven years, and prior to that worked in the Clark County central budget office for five years. Toby is a graduate of Willamette University.
What We Learned
Presentation: FINANCE DOCUMENTS AS COMMUNICATIONS TOOLS PRESENTATION
Photo Album: OMFOA and ELGL Nitty Gritty
Tweet of the night
@ELGL50 Not loving the pink on the document. Just a personal opinion.
— Carolynn (@Mom_Bunny) May 8, 2014
Quote of the night: “I don’t have my ten key”.
Lightning Round Question: what’s your worst financial decision?
Keeping the receiver in mind while preparing the message. Putting oneself in the place of the receiver (empathy).
Communication is 2-way with equal responsibility on both parties.
Transparency is intended to aid communication through completeness, consideration, and clarity of message.
Oregon City, Sandy, West Linn, Salem and Milwaukie develop biennial budgets.
Tigard targets summary level descriptions for public and concrete planning financials for engineering project managers.
Tie your quarterly reports to Council to the CIP.
GFOA and State law provide the CAFR requirements.
CAFRs are intended to achieve compliance with federal, state and local requirements. Readers consist of regulators, auditors, audit committees and YOU!
PAFRs are not intended to be a complete picture, so for an informed reader, they will leave much to be desired in the way of information. They represent the 10,000 foot view.
In an effort to be complete, budget document can become unwieldy and lack clarity.
KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid also applies to developing budgets and financial documents.
Both the Tigard and Milwaukie budgets are roughly 400 pages in length.
Word on the Street
Lisa Shaw, City of Tigard
Toby and Casey’s presentation engaging and helpful. They were considerate of their audience and offered concise and clear examples and answers. I left the evening with a set of criteria that could easily be applied to a variety of documents. I’m now a big fan of “Popular Annual Financial Documents”!
Janice D’Aloia, Mo’ Mix Solutions
I always wondered who looks at the CAFR after its posted online. Casey said that of the 5 hits on Milwaukie’s CAFR, 4 of them were her!!
Heidi Starks, West Slope Water District, Finance and Customer Service and OMFOA President-Elect
I have enjoyed collaborating with Toby LaFrance when he served as the co-chair of the OMFOA Developing Professionals Group. He is a guaranteed YES to any request for student outreach or sharing his wealth of knowledge with colleagues.
Casey Camors had accomplished a perfect blend of incredibly in-depth knowledge of Government accounting, but has a magical way of making it seem simple and almost easy, yet she is very approachable and always willing to help a colleague.
Toby and Casey are both incredibly humble, an endearing quality in a friend and colleague.
Kent Wyatt, City of Tigard
Toby and Casey get what it means to communicate complex financial documents in an environment where we communicate in sound bites. Their presentation highlighted their ability to understand an audience and make it relevant for them. Toby managed to pull this off despite battling a heavy heart from the Derek Jeter retirement announcement.
Norma Alley, City of Newberg
I appreciate getting the tools of using the eight C’s when putting together a City document: Consideration, Completeness, Conciseness, Creativeness, Clarity, Courtesy, Correctness, and Concreteness. Learning about the PAFR was an insight I’m looking forward to seeing implemented in Newberg.
Matthew Hoffman, City of Tigard
Toby and Casey did a great job communicating what the four financial communication instruments (CAFR, PAFR, Annual Budget, and CIP) are all about, and how they serve distinct audiences. The “8 C’s of Communication” framework certainly added value to the topic of the night, as it can be used in a variety of communication initiatives.
Supplemental Reading
- Tigard welcomes new finance, information services director
- West Linn finance officials seek to duplicate success in Milwaukie
- Tigard’s proposed budget for 2014-15 includes new positions
- Ask A Millennial at OMFOA Conference
- Sound off on county development fees
- Tigard leaders for finances, planning
- Planned layoffs of engineers will push agency ‘to the edge,’ expert tells county
- Rising interest rates hit Milwaukie bond proposal