Special to The American
Celeste Metcalf loves taking on a challenge. She said, “Throw me in the deep end and, when I get to shore, I feel like I’ve accomplished something.”
Metcalf has been swimming in the deep end since Missouri Office of Administration Commissioner Kelvin Simmons hired her as Missouri’s ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) Compliance Officer.
Simmons has been charged by executive order with overseeing the State’s ARRA participation. He now has Metcalf keeping a close eye on all those activities.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that we expend these ARRA funds with an eye for improving our economy and our communities. It is essential that we do this and keep Missouri informed of how these dollars are being invested,” Simmons said.
“We believe that having Celeste Metcalf serve in this role gives us one more tool to make sure Missourians know where these dollars are going.”
In this role, Metcalf is responsible for keeping track of Missouri’s stimulus expenditures that come through granting agencies and reporting this data to the federal government on a quarterly basis.
More detailed information, down to the county level, is reported on the state’s Transform.mo.gov website as well. This level of detail required Metcalf to design, create and develop new processes to track all of this information.
Metcalf said all States were “given a destination with no road map” from the federal government regarding the stimulus funds.
Since the ARRA legislation was passed a little over a year ago, each State has had to find its way through the federal requirements without much guidance. Metcalf said being in on the ground floor of designing and creating a process to track Missouri’s use of the funds speaks to her strengths.
“We’re in a managerial accounting environment,” she said. In this environment, accountants like Metcalf study current information and make sure that processes are operating effectively and efficiently to provide the basis for internal management decision-making.
Every State is doing things slightly differently, though State representatives are getting together on a quarterly basis through the auspices of the National Governor’s Association, to share information and prepare for upcoming changes in reporting requirements. Metcalf will represent Missouri at the next meeting later this month.
Missouri also has begin tracking funds that are going to minority- and women-owned businesses. The ARRA legislation did not require that any funds go to these businesses, nor did it call for tracking funds going to these businesses. However, Metcalf, in cooperation with the Office of Supplier and Workforce Diversity, tracks the distribution of these funds as well.
Metcalf has a wide variety of experiences in the accounting field. She has worked as a staff accountant for KPMG and as a production accountant in Los Angeles in the entertainment industry. More recently, she’s worked with the St. Louis Minority Business Council, the Department of Economic Development’s Urban Enterprise Loan Program and as a business consultant for the Minority Business Enterprise Center.
She has a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from George Mason University and a MBA from Washington University. Metcalf is a CPA licensed in the state of Missouri.
