National Public Service Week, the CPA Awards and celebrating our value

In his year-end reflections a few months ago, ACFO President Milt Isaacs noted that the perception of the FI Community has changed in recent years. As he wrote at the time:

I’ve had the opportunity to talk to several CFOs and senior financial leaders over the past few weeks and each of them has commented on the confidence and swagger they see from their FIs. They look at us and see a group that is sure of itself, of its value and of the role they play in serving Canadians.

This sentiment has been on my mind lately. I had the opportunity to participate in the annual CPA Awards of Excellence in Public Sector Financial Management ceremony in Ottawa and I was struck by how strongly the FI Community past and present was represented in the teams that were nominated. Indeed, the winning team from Statistics Canada boasted a dozen current and several more former FIs. It was a proud moment for all of us at ACFO.

In the coming weeks we will be hosting our annual Spring Tune Up event (tickets and access to the webcast are still available, contact ldoty@acfo-acaf.com to get yours!) and I hope to see many of you out so we can take time to celebrate the strength of our community together.

But perhaps more importantly, National Public Service Week (NPSW) takes place between June 12 and 18 this year. This annual event is a great opportunity to take a few minutes and be recognized for the value of your work with your colleagues, both FI and otherwise, and managers.

A hallmark of the FI Community is our ability to work well within our project teams and branches and NPSW is a great time to reflect on that fact. We hope you’ll take some time to get out and participate in NPSW events. Celebrate the value of your work in service of the Canadian public and show off some of that FI Community swagger.

The work we do matters. We deserve to have it recognized.

Dany Richard, CPA, CMA, MBA
Executive Vice-President