A CMA and Montrealer from head to toe

“You have inherited the most difficult job in the City,” Andrée Perreault was told as she was welcomed to her new position as Director of the Business Plan and Budget of the City of Montreal in 2006. In this position, she is responsible for managing and coordinating a total annual budget of $4 billion.

But this CMA, who is willing to reveal all the figures except her age, has seen many a budget in her very full career, marked by numerous changes in her professional path. “I like change,” she says simply. “I admit that I have definitely made bigger changes in direction than most accountants.”

Anything but naïve, Andrée Perreault knew when accepting the offer that she had initially turned down that she was getting involved in an extremely complex undertaking, at a time when the city was at a crossroads in terms of its budget, financial and tax plans. “But after more than 15 years of using Shakespeare’s language at work, I was happy to be able to use French again. It was a return to my roots,” says this Montreal native and devotee.

The second largest city in Canada, Montreal has an impressive administration that serves 21.4% of the population in Quebec, employs over 20,000 mostly unionized people and provides hundreds of extremely wide-ranging services. Over the years, higher governments have transferred a vast array of new responsibilities to Montreal but have not always provided matching budgets. Some, like Andrée Perreault, think that Montreal’s future is based on the growth of its taxation power and that a strong Montreal means a strong Quebec, a belief that does not have the unanimous backing of the politicians, especially because elections are primarily won outside the big cities.

Does she have regrets about getting involved in such a large undertaking, where the financial constraints conflict with political considerations? Not at all. One year after entering this key position in the city’s financial department, Andrée Perreault assesses the situation for Elite CMA. It is a positive assessment, highlighted by two major accomplishments: a review of activities and the tabling of the 2007 City of Montreal budget.

Launched in May 2006 in preparation for the 2007 budget, the review of activities, services, operations and programs was intended to align the administrative apparatus with the priorities and mission of the City of Montreal, improve organizational performance and maintain financial flexibility. This process was completed after five extremely demanding years in which the city had to adapt to two major organizational changes: first the merger of 28 municipalities on the island of Montreal, then the reconstitution of 15 of them, which also changed its governance model.

The review of activities coordinated by Andrée Perreault was a fantastic way to get a good feel for her new area of concern. “We reviewed no less than 2,300 activities, services, operations and programs carried out by the 19 boroughs and 9 central services of the City of Montreal, all in a short, medium and long-term perspective,” she explains.

This review also provided an opportunity to specifically analyze 42 target activities according to their potential short-term savings and set in motion three initiatives intended to improve the organization, one dealing with governance, the second with financing and the third with human resources.

In essence, it is hardly surprising that Andrée Perreault finally succumbed to the sirens of Montreal’s administration, an extremely diverse organization. Her academic and career paths are definitely telling of the wide range of interests she had starting at a young age. After earning a Diploma of Collegial Studies (DEC) in literature, she took a meteorology program and worked in the Far North of Quebec for two years. When she returned to Montreal, she finished another DEC, this time in business administration, finance, in just one year and then spent the next six years at Johnson & Johnson as an analyst and later financial coordinator.

Although in 1986 she began to work at BCE Publitech, a subsidiary of the BCE empire, Andrée Perreault earned her CMA designation in 1987. “It did not take me long to understand after I began to work at Johnson and Johnson that I had to have a professional designation to access the interesting positions,” she said. In fact, she would hold about a dozen interesting positions in the decade that followed at BCE and especially at Bell Canada, where from 1991 to 2006, she was promoted to executive director of various divisions. It did not take her long to build a solid reputation for herself in finance and strategic planning, which definitely explains why the headhunter tried so hard to convince her to finally accept the offer from the City of Montreal.

The huge responsibilities she assumed in the telecommunications industry however did not prevent her from earning a master’s of business administration (MBA) in 1994. While pursuing her career, she also moderated CMA Professional Program sessions for seven years and stayed very involved in the Order, where she chaired the Board of Directors (the Bureau) in 2001-2002. “I believe in our profession and would not hesitate to say that my CMA designation opened more doors for me. The decision to moderate Professional Program sessions was quite a natural one for me. It was an incredible stimulus for me and a way to closely observe the new management trends. Naturally, I had a lot to offer but also a lot to learn. For that reason, the Board of Directors of the Order gave me the opportunity to sharpen my political skills and build my network, which were quite precious gains.”

After one year at the City of Montreal, Andrée Perreault is satisfied that she was able to reconcile the difference between private businesses and public service. “Private businesses seek profits, and the city seeks balance,” says this philosophical manager who, through her various responsibilities, harmoniously balances the needs of the departments and boroughs, the orientations of the city administration and the constant concern to better serve the citizens. “Accountability is harder to pinpoint in a large city administration than in a private business and work methods are primarily step-by-step.”

In addition to her professional activities, this CMA loves tennis, piano, fishing, reading and more recently…bridge. “Many people believe that bridge is only a game for old people. But it is nothing like that,” she says. “It is a game that requires thinking and concentration. In fact, it is said that those who play bridge have a lot less trouble with memory as they age. So why is it that it is mostly senior citizens who play it? Certainly, that is a question of having the time.”

Andrée Perreault is excited by the magnitude of her task. “There is a lot to do in the new Montreal created by the merger and demerger,” she says. “You must begin by reviewing three key processes – budget, decision-making and accountability. Also, you must absolutely set up a system that takes into consideration and allows you to act on the accounting, financial and management parameters of the city. That is a real challenge for a management accountant!”

This is an even bigger challenge since there is very little cost accounting being practiced now in the City of Montreal administration. Andrée Perreault unhesitatingly confirms this: “I think that we have not invested a lot in integrating management information and for that reason, I believe we are lagging behind private businesses.”

The other big challenge, according to Andrée Perreault, is forming a consensus on what it is necessary for an extremely heterogeneous organization like the City of Montreal to be able to make progress. “I believe that we can change three things in an organization: systems, people and processes. The first thing I attack is the processes,” explains Andrée Perreault, who received a three-year term to do so.

An ardent traveler, Andrée Perreault also dreams of visiting the cities around the world that have become models. “In Europe,” she explains,” there is Barcelona, which has become an example of urban development. However, if we focus on performance indicators and management aspects, the United States is the reference, especially cities like Austin, San Diego and Portland.”

The logical next step in the career of Andrée Perreault would lead her into politics. When rubbing shoulders with politicians, would she be tempted to achieve what she could not as a senior member of public service? “I would be the most surprised of all! Politics has become a really tough job.” Andrée Perreault will not confide more on the topic, but if we judge her by her past, she is not a woman who backs away from a challenge…

The other Andrée Perreault, in a few questions…

The miracle she wishes would happen to her
Omnipresence, so that she can succeed in doing everything at the same time without compromise.

The thing that really scares her
Seeing injustices and conflicts from which so-called progress and evolution have not been able to free us, Andrée Perreault finds ample material to worry her about the future of humankind.

What she considers to be the greatest injustice in life
Birthplace, which for most humans determines their right to education, health, peace and the possibility of achieving their full potential.

The thing that annoys her most in daily life The apathy that too many people retreat into.

Her personality trait that she is not embarrassed to admit
Her almost proverbial physical disorder, which greatly contrasts with her organized intellect.