Government Efficiency, Accountability

& Reform Strategy

Improving Government Productivity and Efficiency

There’s an ongoing conversation around enhancing government productivity and efficiency, often focusing on federal initiatives that leverage technology tools to analyze extensive datasets. Local governments, too, can capitalize on their technology and available data to uncover opportunities for improvement.

At UHY, we’ve developed the Government Efficiency, Accountability, and Reform Strategy (GEARS) to assist local governments in identifying these opportunities. GEARS offers a structured approach to help municipalities harness their data to improve performance, reduce inefficiencies, and drive better community outcomes.

Where to Start

The first step in improving government efficiency is accessing readily available operational data. Key sources to consider include:

Operating and capital budgets
Payroll registers
Vendor disbursement register
List of all open contracts
Cash receipts listing
Bank statements for all open accounts
IT system inventory
Listing of municipal-owned assets
Audit reports

Revenue Analysis

Review trends in major revenue sources such as property taxes, sales taxes, fines, grants, and more. A 2-3 year trend analysis can help assess the accuracy of your budgeting process.

Revenue Collection

Assess month-by-month revenue collections over the same period you analyzed your revenues. This will provide insight into the efficiency of your cash management and collection processes.

Payroll

Analyze payroll registers to identify actual employee counts. Compare the number of Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) with the budgeted FTEs and evaluate overtime expenditures.

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Procurement

Examine your procurement processes, including using procurement cards, issuing RFPs, and cooperative purchasing. Streamlining procurement can save significant time and reduce administrative overhead.

Vendor Payments

Review payments to vendors, focusing on your top 10-20 payees. Assess whether you’re receiving the best value from these suppliers and evaluate the time it takes to process invoices and payments. For large contracts, consider the impact of change orders on contract timing.

Treasury Management

Analyze monthly cash receipts and disbursements to understand cash flow needs. Compare these with bank balances to ensure optimal use of idle funds and maximize interest returns.

Beyond these six focus areas, there are other operational functions ripe for assessment, including:

Fleet management
Utilization of municipally owned assets
Debt financing and lease vs. buy analysis
Quality of monthly reporting
Business-type activity collection
Internal service fund charges

While this process can be data-intensive, it’s essential for ensuring your operations are running efficiently and effectively. Our GEARS offering is designed to unlock your organization's potential, enabling you to operate more efficiently and deliver better results for your community.

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