AUTUMN 2012
FMI
*
IGF JOURNAL
7
Staffing Financial
Positions
Rumour has it that the new Professional
Development Division in the Financial
Administration Branch is hell-bent on
“professionalising” the FI group through-
out the Federal Public Service. Not so,
says Division Director Andy Lumsden,
if the rumour-mongers mean that only
professionally accredited accountants will
be acceptable as members of this group.
However, knowledge and ability factors are
going to be upgraded to improve the qual-
ity of financial management in the Public
Service. Present selection standards do not
make professional accreditation manda-
tory, though it may be desirable for some
positions. The selection standards are
decided according to specific job require-
ments set by the manager and his selection
Co-Editor’s Note:
The first article was
published in April 1977 in the fmi
*
igf
Bulletin, a precursor to the fmi
*
igf
journal. The article stresses the
importance to upgrade the knowledge
and ability factors for financial officers’
positions to improve the quality of
financial management in the Public
Service and suggests that the Treasury
Board Secretariat and the Public
Service Commission will increase the
opportunities for financial staff to
obtain a professional accreditation.
The second article is written
35 years later by Juliet Woodfield
from the Office of the Comptroller
General (OCG). The article starts
by congratulating the fmi
*
igf on its
accomplishments over the last 50 years
and highlights key recruitment,
training and talent management
programs implemented and managed
by the OCG that have significantly
contributed to enhancing the financial
management capacity in the federal
public service for a number of years.
The annual awards program honours
innovative thinking and celebrates
excellence in public sector financial
management. Nominations and
consideration forms will be accepted
starting November 5, 2012, for the
following award categories: Innovation,
Financial Leadership and Lifetime
Achievement.
2013 Award of Excellence
for Comptrollership in
the Public Sector
NOMINATION DEADLINE:
February 8, 2013
board. Reaffirming the view of the Public
Service Commission, Deputy Secretary
Stu Mensforth puts it “We can’t afford to
limit the choice of people well suited to fill
the duties of a job only on the basis of a
particular kind of formal education”.
Nevertheless, it is our impression that the
Treasury Board Secretariat and the Public
Service Commission do intend to increase
the opportunities for all staff engaged in
the financial function to obtain professional
accreditation through the accounting bod-
ies, and in fact the Government of Canada
accelerated Financial Officer Development
Program has already been established to
encourage financial personnel to obtain a
professional qualification. Let us hope that
over a period of time these programs will
do much to ensure that a greater number
of financial administrators in the Public
Service possess formal academic training
in accounting.
Some of our members, on seeing the
recent advertisement for Senior Finan-
cial Managers, have been wondering if
the PSC and Treasury Board speak with a
“forked tongue”. We don’t think so. Their
position seems to be that there are contin-
uous requirements for financial managers
to fill senior financial positions in govern-
ment and it is not always possible to iden-
tify suitable candidates from within the
Public Service inventory. For this reason,
from time to time, it is in the interests of
good management, to establish an invento-
ry of qualified candidates from outside the
Public Service. When vacancies occur, it is
normal to look first at inventories of candi-
dates who are already in the Public Service.
If suitable candidates cannot be identified,
the inventory of candidates from outside
the Public Service is reviewed. The current
advertisement is to establish an up-to-date
inventory of candidates from outside the
Public Service for this purpose.
In all honesty we have to agree that a
little new blood would be very welcome.
The
Past
Past
vs.
Present
#1: Community & Capacity Building
Courtesy: Maclean’s 1977
Clubbing with the Rolling Stones, 1977.
