Know Whether Your Financial Systems Can Stand Up To Scrutiny…Before Anyone Asks.
The PFSS Assessment gives leadership a clear, defensible view of public-funds stewardship, risk exposure, and system readiness — without disruption or guesswork.
You may look compliant. But would your systems actually hold up under scrutiny?
Most organizations managing public funds aren’t failing. They’re operating inside systems that were never designed to demonstrate stewardship at the moment it’s required.
You file reports. You pass audits (mostly). You have policies.
But if you were asked today — by leadership, a funder, or an oversight body — to show exactly where every dollar is, who is accountable for it, and why each material decision was made… could your systems answer cleanly, in real time, without reconstruction?
That hesitation is the gap.
Audits are retrospective. They explain what went wrong after it has already happened. PFSS is different.
It defines the operating conditions that make your organization defensible before anyone asks — by ensuring financial structure, operational reality, and governance intent are aligned now, not reconstructed later.
WHAT IS PFSS?
The Public Funds Stewardship Standard (PFSS) is a framework developed from years spent inside organizations managing billions in public funds — observing the same systemic gaps repeat across sectors.
Not fraud. Not incompetence. But systems that were never designed to demonstrate stewardship in real time. PFSS defines the operating conditions required for an organization to be defensibly ready — not after reconciliation, remediation, or audit review, but before scrutiny occurs.
PFSS establishes four core requirements:
Capital Visibility
Can leadership account for the status, purpose, and risk exposure of public funds on demand — not after reconciliation, but now?
Assigned Accountability
Does every dollar have a clearly identified owner, documented authorization, and defined purpose — or does responsibility diffuse across committees, roles, and institutional memory?
Compliance Readiness
Could your organization respond to an audit, oversight inquiry, or board question tomorrow without scrambling? Readiness is an operating condition, not an event.
Decision Traceability
Can you reconstruct why material decisions were made, by whom, and based on what information — or would the answer rely on precedent and informal rationale?
Failure in any one of these areas represents a stewardship deficiency — regardless of whether an organization has been cited, penalized, or formally questioned.
THE ASSESSMENT
The PFSS Alignment Assessment provides leadership with a clear, evidence-based view of where the organization currently stands against the Public Funds Stewardship Standard.
This assessment is designed to restore visibility — not initiate action.
What you provide:
Current financial statements and budget documentation
Organizational chart with decision-making authority clearly identified
Sample grant agreements or funding source documentation
All materials are submitted via a secure link. No on-site visit is required. A detailed submission list is provided after purchase.
What I do:
Analyze your systems across all four PFSS domains
Identify specific deficiencies, blind spots, and areas of strength
Determine your alignment status:
Aligned
Conditionally Aligned
Not Aligned
The analysis focuses on how financial structure, operations, and governance actually function — not how they are intended to function.
What you receive:
A recorded video walkthrough of findings (viewable on your schedule)
A written summary with prioritized areas for leadership attention
One 30-minute Q&A call to review results and implications
Timeline: Complete assessment delivered within two weeks of receiving materials.
Investment: $4,000
Capacity: Limited to three assessments per month to ensure depth and rigor.
Important: This assessment does not include implementation, remediation, or ongoing advisory services. It provides clarity — clearly, directly, and without obligation.
This assessment is for organizations managing $500K+ in annual public funds that need to understand their stewardship gaps before those gaps are surfaced by auditors, funders, or oversight bodies.
It is designed for leadership teams who carry responsibility, not just for compliance, but for the decisions made inside complex, inherited systems.
You're a fit if one or more of the following is true:
You manage federal, state, or local grant funding with multiple and overlapping compliance requirements
A leadership transition is happening (or coming), and you need clarity on what the next leader is inheriting
Your funding has grown faster than your systems, and you’re not fully certain what’s exposed
You’ve had audit findings before and want to know whether the root issues were actually resolved, not just addressed
Someone recently asked a question about funds, decisions, or documentation that you couldn’t answer immediately
This assessment is especially valuable if you’ve ever thought:
“We probably should have better documentation for this. I hope no one ever asks how we made that decision.”
If those thoughts sound familiar, the issue isn’t effort or intent. It’s visibility.
Ready to Know Where You Stand?
If system visibility would meaningfully support your leadership decisions, the PFSS Alignment Assessment provides a clear, defensible view of your current stewardship posture.
No pitch. No assumed engagement. No obligation beyond clarity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this an audit?
No. This is a diagnostic assessment against a stewardship standard. It does not replace audits or regulatory compliance — it operates upstream of them, identifying conditions before formal scrutiny occurs.
What if we're not aligned?
Then you’ll know specifically where and why. What you do with that information is a leadership decision. There is no assumed follow-on engagement.
Do you offer implementation support?
Not as part of this assessment. My role here is diagnostic clarity. If implementation support is needed afterward, we can discuss appropriate options or I can point you to trusted resources.
How is this different from your previous consulting work?
I previously worked embedded in day-to-day operations, supporting execution. This work is different. I now focus exclusively on diagnostic intelligence.
I help you see clearly. I do not execute on your behalf.