Comments on: Finances an issue for Capitol Hill and Dale http://www.spacepolitics.com/2005/11/02/finances-an-issue-for-capitol-hill-and-dale/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=finances-an-issue-for-capitol-hill-and-dale Because sometimes the most important orbit is the Beltway... Wed, 17 Sep 2014 13:35:41 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.38 By: Greg Kuperberg http://www.spacepolitics.com/2005/11/02/finances-an-issue-for-capitol-hill-and-dale/#comment-6006 Wed, 02 Nov 2005 17:45:10 +0000 http://www.districtofbaseball.com/spacepolitics/?p=705#comment-6006 One can always argue that any simple slogan like “full-cost accounting” was someone else’s idea all along. Implementation was nonetheless O’Keefe’s work. Accounting was supposed to be his big qualification — he even said that he liked to be called a bean counter. He also bragged about full-cost accounting, and financial reorganization in general:
Full Cost Accounting and Management – In a landmark event, we have allocated all our costs by program areas. Throughout our history, NASA has treated the cost of institutional activities (personnel, facilities, and support) separate from the programs they benefit. This has made economic trades difficult to analyze. In this budget, we have placed all costs against programs so that, for the first time, we can readily determine the true total costs of programs and allow managers to make more efficient and effective choices.

If this was the big feather in O’Keefe’s cap, then GAO ought to be slamming him for it. Why should he get a free pass just because he quit?

]]> By: Nemo http://www.spacepolitics.com/2005/11/02/finances-an-issue-for-capitol-hill-and-dale/#comment-6005 Wed, 02 Nov 2005 16:43:59 +0000 http://www.districtofbaseball.com/spacepolitics/?p=705#comment-6005
Whose idea was full-cost accounting?

It’s been required of all federal agencies by federal law and financial accounting standards since fiscal year 1998. Goldin was still trying to implement it when he got canned.

The idea didn’t originate with O’Keefe, Greg. He was simply the man sent in to try to finish the job.

]]> By: Greg Kuperberg http://www.spacepolitics.com/2005/11/02/finances-an-issue-for-capitol-hill-and-dale/#comment-6004 Wed, 02 Nov 2005 15:39:03 +0000 http://www.districtofbaseball.com/spacepolitics/?p=705#comment-6004 It ought to be a huge blot on Sean O’Keefe’s reputation, because it was the one thing that he said he was good at. Even more so because, according to the GAO report, O’Keefe’s reforms caused some of the problems that they were intended to solve: “The problems we found with NASA’s travel data point to weaknesses in NASA’s full-cost accounting initiative.” Whose idea was full-cost accounting?

But it’s like talking into the wind to say it. The GAO report doesn’t even mention O’Keefe by name. No one cares to learn from the mistake of praising bad ideas.

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