In the diplomatic halls of the nation’s capital, power is everything. As inspector general of the General Accounting Office, Frances Garcia is the top official who presides over agency assets, policies and procedures.

The power hasn’t gone to her head. Instead, Frances uses her influence to make the GAO more productive and contribute to the well-being of the accounting profession. Although this native Texan sits at the top, her manner is unassuming, extremely competent, no-nonsense and amusingly candid.

Traits to Success
Times have changed for the government sector, and Frances is in the middle of a maelstrom. From technology to new regulations, the way business is done and the impact of the CPA on the environment is rich with possibilities.

“All of a sudden, the government sector is probably the fastest growing market in the CPA profession because we’re going to have consolidated financial statements and every office is going to be audited,” she says. “The CPA who works in government will have to have organization, timeliness, an eye on the bottom line and product productivity to survive.”

Frances has a staff of nine, and also concentrates her efforts on internal controls and financial records. She reports to the controller general, and is in charge of investigating wrongdoing by employees of the GAO.

Her background is rich in both public accounting and government, and has been with the GAO For 12 years. She worked with both the Dallas and Austin offices of Arthur Andersen, then was tapped by President Carter in 1977 to join his administration as chairman of the Copyright Royalty Tribunal. For the first time in 69 years, she and her group pioneered new legislation on royal rights in the cable, recording, non-commercial broadcasting and even the jukebox industry.

Following the appointment, her involvement and networking with the American Association of Hispanic CPAs enabled a return to public accounting with the Los Angeles firm of Quezada, Navarro & Company, where she became partner-in-charge of the Washington, DC office. After a promotion and transfer to Los Angeles, she returned to Washington and has been with the GAO in various positions ever since, including a new recruitment program that “operated like the Big 8 programs” and the top position with the Office of Internal Audit.

Frances sums up her experience in one, definitive statement, “I couldn’t pay a million dollars for the training I got at Arthur Andersen,” but is somewhat concerned that public accounting will now take away qualified government CPAs because of new legislation requirements. As Vice President Gore’s influence in running the government through privatization gathers steam, she calmly admits, “The big firms are hiring our staff with larger salaries because public accounting is experiencing more work than ever before in the government sector.”

Advancements Equal Efficiency
Frances is excited about the marvelous innovations made by technology within the governmental environment, not because of the systems themselves, but because government finally is recognizing the need to become technologically driven.

“While other professions already have had many upgrades to networking, software and entire systems, the government only now is making great strides in this area, and the way we access information makes our job not only easier, but much more efficient.,” she says. “Something as simple as networks and integration of databases from our office to, for example, Seattle, provides us the ability to work on documents simultaneously instead of back and forth.”

Frances welcomes input from CPAs who have government clients and wants to chat about future opportunities. She can be reached at garciaf.pers@gao.gov.