The Office and Management and Budget (OMB) and the Treasury Department announced a new office to direct the federal government’s efforts to capture and process transactions and to produce financial reports.  The Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT), located in Treasury, will “identify and facilitate the acquisition or development of initial operating capabilities for automated solutions.”  This, OMB says, will ensure that new automated solutions are web-based to enable agencies to better share information and provide easier access to publically-available financial information.  In a memorandum to agency Chief Financial Officers, OMB’s Controller Danny Werfel said the federal government has lagged in its efforts to develop and implement new technologies to improve financial management operations.  This, according to Werfel, has made it difficult for Chief Financial Officers to meet the challenges of their responsibilities to strengthen internal controls and improve the reporting of meaningful financial information.  The new office will initially develop:  1) a shared solution for capturing vendor invoice data; 2) a financial information repository to hold invoice and payment information; and 3) a shared design to develop, capture, and report all buy-sell activity between agencies.  OMB will issue additional details and will make results available by this fall.