Labor CFO: Challenge is Making Best Use of Scarce Resources
January 23, 2013
Jim Taylor once planned to be a city manager. But after taking a Federal Emergency Management Agency internship in 1980, Taylor went on to hold senior management jobs at FEMA, the Commerce Department and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. Since June 2010, he’s been the Senate-confirmed chief financial officer at the Labor Department. He also helped lead a working group of chief financial officers and inspectors general that in 2011 produced a congressionally mandated report on possible changes to the 1990 Chief Financial Officers Act.
This month, Taylor sat down with Federal Times to discuss the role of the CFO, financial management in tough times and the increasing importance of information technology to financial management. The only off-limits topic was the potential impact of budget sequestration; like officials at other agencies, Taylor referred questions on that score to the White House. Edited excerpts follow.