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Editor's note: This article is from the June 15 special issue of Government Executive, "In the Spotlight," which addresses the challenges facing federal chief management officers.

For years, chief financial officers at federal agencies have been striving to provide the kind of vital performance data expected of their counterparts in the private sector - data that would earn them a seat at the table with other executive decision-makers. But if they haven't already been invited to the table on the merits of the data they can muster, the economic stimulus package passed by Congress in February is giving them a seat by fiat.

Ready or not, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is shining a spotlight on fiscal accountability, and CFOs are expected to provide it. The financial reporting requirements codified in the law, coupled with the expectations of lawmakers eager to show results for the debt they're assuming on behalf of taxpayers, is putting enormous pressure on CFOs, many of whom are struggling to replace decades-old finance and accounting systems that are incapable of producing the kind of data now required.

"This is a very different paradigm we're in," says Thomas Cooley, chief financial officer at the National Science Foundation. "The Recovery Act has a lot of political steam behind it, so there's a greater degree of reporting and communication both with the White House and Congress."

In the June 15 issue of Government Executive, Katherine McIntire Peters explores chief financial officers' efforts to meet new reporting requirements. Click here to read the full story.