Advancing the FM Vision with Action: Getting to Know the Progress Statement

Things are still a bit raw from the shutdown, but we're back. We’re continuing to make contributions to the American people. We do it every day with the work we do—we should all be proud of that.

Hopefully you have seen The Future of Federal Financial Management, or FM Vision, which describes a 10-year vision that continues Treasury’s tradition of forward-looking financial management.

Where are we now? How can we reach some of the goals outlined in the FM Vision, and in last year's Annual Fiscal Service Letter for Chief Financial Officers?

Behold Progress Statement 2018.

The Progress Statement touches on some of the great work that goes on here at the Bureau of Fiscal Service. Did you know that we disburse 1.2 billion payments totaling more than $3.5 trillion each year to individuals and businesses? We collect more than $7 billion in delinquent debt. We also account for and report financial activity related to the $21.5 trillion public debt. And we provide financial management services to other federal agencies.

That's pretty remarkable. But, we're never really done. There are always better, faster, smarter ways to perform. To move forward, we need a roadmap. The Progress Statement provides that, and focuses on ten initiatives, outlined in the CFO Letter. It sets clear goals to make our federal financial management even more efficient, accurate, and seamless over the next few years.

The Progress Statement highlights some examples of the Fiscal Service's transformational approaches to disbursing, collecting, reporting, and shared services. One highlight is the Invoice Processing Platform, a stress-free and user-friendly business solution that helps government vendors get paid faster and more accurately by federal agencies. Another is how we're replacing paper checks with electronic payments to get recipients paid despite blizzards, hurricanes, or tornadoes.

Although technology is critical, there are people behind every initiative. The Progress Statement puts a face on those who are part of the federal financial management community.

Meet Jaime Saling from Fiscal Accounting, who talks about helping agencies get on board using G-Invoicing. Learn how the National Science Foundation financial management team is embracing robotic process automation to improve their collection processes for travel, vendors, and grants, which frees accountants from clerical work.

And find out how data is providing new ways to "see" federal spending and analyze federal programs and initiatives.

This is just a taste of what's in the Progress Statement 2018. Take a look. As part of the federal financial management community, you helped make this happen.

For more information on the FM Vision, go to fmvision.fiscal.treasury.gov.

Last modified 02/25/19