Ethical Communications; Part 5: Climate or Weather?

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Ethical Communications; Part 5:

Climate or Weather?

Accounting for Climate Change or Federal Accounting for Weather-Related Events. Which title do you think is more ethical? In Part 1 of our series, Tom Dean's lead off message was that "truth can't be relative" and in Part 2, Leigha Kiger took us on a grand tour of using Plain English writing techniques when communicating with your audience. Building on both themes in Part 3, Lauren Laurie focused on taking your ego out of communications and avoiding hyperbole. Then in Part 4, Keegan Maguigan took us deeper into communicating facts in order to reveal the truth.

Now in Part 5, Ms. Robin Gilliam explores ethical communication by presenting a story in support of a solution. Accounting presentations should introduce a problem, review solutions, and summarize recommendations for how the audience should efficiently and effectively account and report events and transactions. On September 15, 2018, a major event - Hurricane Florence - left behind 3.6$ Billion in damages to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Ms. Gilliam uses this event as a scenario for an ethical presentation of Federal Accounting for Weather-Related Events.

What is ethical communication and why is it important? Does it even exist in our digitized world where instant communication is often valued more for its speed and response time than its content or sentiment? How can you trust what you are hearing and are you in fact, an honest communicator or do you just hear and say those things that correspond to your biases?

These are tough questions to answer if you're going to be truthful with yourself but don't worry, we've identified an outstanding slate of 6 speakers this year who just don't talk the talk, they walk the talk. They come from different disciplines and backgrounds and will share with you their insights on ethical communication. We'll be covering such diverse topics as communicating in plain English; advocating for resources and budget increases; how story-telling can be used to address sensitive or taboo topics; building emotional connections with people; and sticking to the facts so as not to mislead.

We plan on concluding our 6 speaker series with an open panel discussion where you will be invited to ask questions of these expert practitioners, but a warning is in order. If you keep an open mind and are honest with yourself, you will probably realize that some, or maybe much of what you've been hearing or saying doesn't fall into what would be considered ethical.

Now, with that warning out of the way, please come join us and let's welcome Robin as she continues to open our eyes, ears, mind and heart concerning ethical communication by story telling.

Presenter

Robin Gilliam, CPA, PMP; Assistant Director

Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB)

Learning Objectives

After this session, you will be able to:

Identify accounting standards that can be used to communicate adverse weather events.
Properly classify and report costs incurred related to weather events.
Distinguish between destroyed versus damaged assets and their accounting treatment.
Apply deferred maintenance and repairs as an impairment indicator.
Realize the importance of using illustrative stories when communicating.
Encourage transparent and truthful accounting without exaggeration.

About Our Presenter

Robin Gilliam, CPA PMP; Assistant Director

Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB)

Ms. Gilliam began her federal career in 1997 at the Census Bureau working on the audited Financial Statements. She then gained extensive knowledge in developing core financial systems at Commerce, Labor, and the Treasury Departments. While at Treasury, Ms. Gilliam was the liaison to the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) and the Financial Systems Integration Office (FSIO), joining a team of agency experts to develop the federal core financial system requirements and the standard reimbursable business processes. She also led a diverse group of agencies in developing the Interagency Agreement—IAA—form to standardize reimbursable agreements across the Government. Ms. Gilliam worked closely with OMB and agencies to develop financial data standards and policies, for which she wrote and contributed to the Treasury Financial Manual. Ms. Gilliam joined FASAB in September 2013 and is the project manager on management’s discussion and analysis and risk reporting, with a focus on climate impact to federal property, plant and equipment. Ms. Gilliam has a Bachelor’s degree in art and psychology from Goucher College and a Certificate in Accounting from UMBC. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Project Management Professional, and is a member of the Association of Government Accountants and the Association for Federal Enterprise Risk Management.

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