During the years 2024 and 2025, Professor Marcos Barros led the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) on a transformative journey towards results that effectively impact the lives of citizens and the society we serve. As a control body responsible for ensuring the good and regular management of public resources, the internalisation of the OKR approach was decisive in connecting our control strategy to the concrete impact that audited public policies can generate when well implemented.

Under his guidance, our leaders were trained, internal work processes and normative procedures were improved, and technological solutions were adjusted. The entire organisation—public servants and collaborators—was sensitised and mobilised.

The results confirm the power of this change: in 2024 alone, the return on investment made in the TCU reached the mark of R$1 to R$31, meaning that for every Real (Brazilian currency) from the Union's budget invested in our institution, R$31 were returned to the public coffers or saved in fees charged to citizens.

This book records, with precision and depth, many of the principles and learnings we experienced on this journey and which will continue to inspire the evolution of the Brazilian public sector.

Leonard Lapa
Secretary of Planning, Governance and Management
TCU – Federal Court of Accounts, Brazil.