Mike Wetklow and Stephen Kunze, both members of the Chief Financial Officers Council, told Government Matters in an interview posted Sunday about the initial draft of a plan for the future of the federal government’s financial management called the “CFO of the Future Now 2030 Plan.”
Wetklow, deputy CFO at the National Science Foundation (NSF), said the creation of the first draft was driven by the 30th anniversary of the CFO Act of 1990 that sought to transform financial management in the government.
Kunze, deputy CFO at the Department of Commerce, told Government Matters host Francis Rose about the creation of a working group within the CFO Council to identify areas of focus for the initial draft. He also cited the “need for data in order to make data-driven decision making to inform policy on the mission side.”
Wetklow also noted that the future finance workforce will need to be ready to "translate technology and data into innovation into our financial management processes” and that means “getting comfortable with computer science, statistics, coding … to be able to interact with the technology.”
When asked about how the CFO Council will take and evaluate feedback on the draft plan, Kunze said the council will take an “agile approach” to assess and integrate insights.
“We recognize that technology and data requirements are going to change as we move forward. We are going to do this on an iterative basis. We are committed to doing this on an annual review to make sure that the direction that we chose has not gone off the rails,” Kunze added.
If you’re interested in federal data management efforts, then check out GovCon Wire’s Data Innovation Forum coming up on June 15. To register for this virtual forum and view other upcoming events, visit the GovConWire Events page.
