Comptroller General of Canada and CCAF Board Member Charles-Antoine St-Jean will be the opening keynote speakers at the national conference of the Financial Management Institute of Canada.

With the theme “The Leading Edge”, FMI's Public Sector Management Workshop 2006 will take place in St. John's, Newfoundland on June 4-6, 2006. The conference will look at governance and accountability issues as well as such topics as risk management, shared services and service delivery models.

CCAF Executive Director Michael Eastman, who earlier this year was a guest speaker at several of FMI's 12 chapters across Canada, talked with outgoing FMI president Jean Laporte about the institute's conference and about FMI's strategic direction.

Jean is currently the Director General, Corporate Services for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB). He is responsible for the planning and delivery of the full range of financial, human resources, IM, IT, administrative, planning and reporting services within this federal government agency. Jean has worked at the Treasury Board Secretariat, Revenue Canada - Customs and Excise and for the past 20 years in various capacities within the TSB. He is a graduate of the University of Ottawa and a Certified General Accountant.

Jean is an active member of the Financial Management Institute (FMI) and currently serves as its National President. He has been a member of the FMI for over 17 years and a member of the FMI National Board of Directors for the past 7 years. Jean is also very active within the federal public service community. He is chairman of the Small Agencies Finance Action Group (SAFAG) and a member of the Small Agencies Administrators Network (SAAN). Over the past few years, he has been actively involved in various inter-departmental working groups at the Assistant Deputy Minister and Director General levels. He is currently a member of the Comptroller General 's Financial Management Advisory Council, the ADM Steering Committee on the Shared Travel Services Initiative, and the Government of Canada Marketplace Steering Committee.

GOVERNANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY ON FMI CONFERENCE AGENDA

Michael Eastman: What is FMI hoping to accomplish at its sessions on governance and accountability at the St. John's conference?

Jean Laporte: Governance, accountability, transparency are all topics of current interest to our members, because governments across the country are addressing them. At our conference, we hope to talk about what needs to be done from the perspective of our members, and about strategies for implementation.

In addition to Charles-Antoine St-Jean, we have several speakers who will be able to add value here. For example, Peter Aucoin of Dalhousie University will talk about Prospects for Improved Accountability. Keith Davis, a senior manager with Deloitte & Touche, will speak on the Governance Revolution in the Public Sector. And Keith Hillier, the Assistant Deputy Minister of Corporate Services at Veterans Affairs Canada, will lead a session entitled, “Post Gomery: Values, Ethics and Accountability in relation to the management of Public Sector Resources.”

Michael Eastman: I understand improved governance was one of your objectives for your year as FMI President.

Jean Laporte: I set three themes for my term. One was to improve communications with chapters, a second was to put in place a five-year strategic plan, and the third was to improve FMI's own governance. I thought we could do a better job of practicing what we were preaching.

Michael Eastman: What did you do to improve governance?

Jean Laporte: With our Board and volunteers, we made changes to our bylaws, created an independent audit committee, reviewed our own financial management policy, changed the way our Board meetings are run and prepared an annual report to our members, which is a first for the FMI. We still have more to do; for the coming year, as past president, I've taken on the challenge of getting the new audit committee up and running. I've also agreed to prepare an orientation package for new board members, so they will be able to begin their duties with a clear understanding of their governance roles and responsibilities.

Michael Eastman: You have also put in place a new strategic plan for FMI. How is it likely to affect the direction of the organization over the next few years?

Jean Laporte: One important element is that we are broadening our focus. In the past, our emphasis has been on financial management. But we feel that in today's world, our members really need to understand the bigger picture. So we now portray FMI as a forum for the dissemination of information on the management of all public sector resources - not just finances, but also human resources, information resources, technology resources. That is reflected in our strategic plan.

The one other area I might mention is partnerships. One of the plan's five strategic goals is to continue to establish partnerships that strengthen FMI and provide benefits to members. CCAF is the kind of organization we can partner with. You generate research that is of interest to our members, and we can provide you with an audience for your findings. Your participation over the past few months in some of our chapter professional development events is a good example of how this can work.

Michael Eastman: Jean, thanks for sharing your views with us, and good luck with the conference in St. John's.

More information about the Financial Management Institute of Canada, including the institute's Strategic Plan 2006-2011 and the program for the Public Sector Management Workshop in St. John's, is available at FMI's web site: www.fmi.ca.

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