Accenture Executives Author Innovative Book Offering New Methodology for Improving Public Service Value

RESTON, Va. – Sept. 5, 2006 – A groundbreaking new book authored by senior executives of Accenture and published by John Wiley & Sons outlines leading-edge practices in the public sector and offers a comprehensive methodology for evaluating and increasing public service productivity.

Available Sept. 15, Unlocking Public Value: A New Model for Achieving High Performance in Public Service Organizations will serve as a valuable guide for executives – whether from government agencies, nonprofit organizations or private-sector companies that provide government services – and others seeking to understand how public service organizations can measure, analyze and improve public value over time.

In the book, co-authors Greg Parston, director of the Accenture Institute for Public Service Value, and Marty Cole, group chief executive of Accenture’s Government practice, present Accenture’s Public Service Value model — a practical framework that can help public managers articulate outcomes, measure cost-effectiveness and track progress against performance measures. The framework has been tested at elite international public policy schools and used with public service organizations around the world.

“By providing sharper analytical focus on leading-edge practices that result in an increase in public value, the book exemplifies the goal of the Institute’s work to fill an important void in the public service workplace,” said Parston.

Cole said, “With public managers under constant pressure to do more with less, the Public Service Value model helps tackle complex public service challenges. It’s a unique tool for measuring value based on outcomes and then helping to deliver that value to citizens in the most efficient way possible.”

The response from public management experts and officials already has been impressive. Professor Mark Moore of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and author of Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government, said: “In this important work, [Parston and Cole] have moved well beyond the simple idea of ‘customer-oriented government,’ pre-occupied only with the quality of services, to a ‘citizen-focused government,’ focused on assisting citizens to define and achieve important social outcomes in cost-effective ways. The practical tools they have developed will help citizens, taxpayers, clients and public managers align and achieve a shared concept of public value.”

Elliott Hibbs, former commissioner of the Arizona Department of Revenue, called the Public Service Value model, “…the best advancement I’ve seen in performance measurement in the last 20 years of my career.”

The mission of the Accenture Institute for Public Service Value served as the impetus for Unlocking Public Value: A New Model for Achieving High Performance in Public Service Organizations. The Public Service Value model adapts the core concepts of shareholder value from the commercial world to define and measure governments’ return for tax money spent. The model is designed to help public managers articulate the key purpose for which their organizations and programs exist and to assess whether or not they are meeting their objectives of improving outcomes for citizens.

Cole and Parston leverage their years of experience in governance, leadership and change management as well as significant research from both the public and the private sectors. This research is brought to life through interviews with public managers from around the world outlining their own experiences and lessons learned.

About the Accenture Institute for Public Service Value
The Accenture Institute for Public Service Value is dedicated to promoting high performance in public service delivery, policy-making, and governance, through research and development on the creation of public value. The institute undertakes and commissions relevant research; produces publications on good practice in public service; develops practical methods of applying the concepts of public value; and presents events to bring together and promote discussion among public managers and stakeholders in the government, academic, nonprofit and private sectors. For more information, visit www.accenture.com/publicservicevalue.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 133,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$15.55 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2005. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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