Highlights
Training Opportunities
FASAB, GASB Emerging Issues Topic of March 26 Audio Conference
AGA, in conjunction NASACT and ALGA , is pleased to announce a new audio conference, "Emerging Issues at FASAB and GASB: The Landscape is Changing." The audio conference, worth 2 CPE hours, is set for 2 – 3:50 p.m. EDT, March 26.
Hear from two key officials from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB). The speakers will discuss the conceptual frameworks being developed at the two boards; what future standards may arise as a result of new concepts; how the new standards may affect preparers, auditors and users; the impact of international accounting standards on the two boards; and the progress being made in financial and performance reporting during the last 10 years and the goals for the next 10.
Speakers include David R. Bean, CPA, Director of Research and Technical Activities, GASB, and Wendy M. Payne, CGFM, CPA, Executive Director, FASAB.
Cost is $249 per site (unlimited attendance) if you register on or before March 21, and $299 thereafter. Government agencies and CPAG members who register five or more offices can receive a 20 percent discount.
Register online, or print the regular registration form, or the special promotion registration form and fax it to 703.684.6933.
View the entire audio conference schedule.
Coming Soon! AGA's Web Blog Starts
April 1
Beginning April 1, AGA will sponsor a daily web blog where participants can post a brief essay on a government financial management or accountability issue and check back during the day to answer questions posted by readers. Have something you want to say? Looking for a forum to dialogue with your colleagues? Look no further! We're registering "guests" for April right now. Join the fun by e-mailing Marie Force, director of communications, to get on the schedule. Mark your calendars for April 1, and have your coffee with AGA every morning.
Single Audit Audio Conference Set for
April 2
NASACT, in conjunction with AGA and ALGA, has announced “Intermediate Single Audit Issues: Planning, Performing, and Reporting,” This audio conference, worth 2 CPE hours, is the second of a two-part series on single audit training designed to address many of the findings identified in a national single audit quality report released in June 2007.
Join nationally-recognized instructor Frank Crawford, Crawford & Associates, P.C., from 2 – 3:30 p.m. EDT April 2.
Cost is $249 per site (unlimited attendance) if you register on or before Friday, March 28, and $299 thereafter.
Register online.
If you have any questions, call NASACT at 859.276.1147 or e-mail support@nasact.org.
AGA Advertising Opportunities!
Advertise in AGA's electronic newsletters—TOPICS and AGA Today! Get maximum exposure and build your brand. Find out what's available in an upcoming issue. Click here for all the information you need to run your ad. Or, you can contact April Force Pardoe.
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March 10, 2008 • News from the Profession
AGA Today is Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner Clifton Gunderson
 Clifton Gunderson offices in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, MD and Harrisburg, PA are looking for experienced professionals to join our public sector practice. The ideal candidate will have 5+ yrs of Public Accounting or equivalent audit experience along with your BA/BS in Accounting and CPA or CGFM. Duties will include audits of Federal entities, State & Local audits (GASB), A-133 audits, and compliance auditing. To apply please e-mail Michael.Armstrong@cliftoncpa.com.
Lawmakers: DHS Budget Shortchanges States
Lawmakers say the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's 2009 budget proposal doesn’t provide nearly enough funding for state and local governments. Secretary Michael Chertoff, testifying last Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security, said the $38 billion budget is more than adequate. It includes $3.5 billion for the Border Patrol, which should allow DHS to expand the force to 20,000 agents by the end of 2009, and another $2 billion in funding for border fencing. Chertoff also pointed out that the department’s budget has grown by 62 percent since its creation five years ago. But lawmakers complained the budget leaves many states and cities with unfunded federal mandates. The budget would slash $750 million from state homeland security grants. And rail and port security grants would both be cut in half, losses of almost $200 million each. —Gregg Carlstrom, Federal Times. Read more.
The Mandate to Measure: Grading the States '08
Information is king. No single idea emerges more clearly from year-long research done for the 2008 Government Performance Project. As always, this report focuses on four fundamental areas of government management: Information, People, Money and Infrastructure. But this year, the elements that make up the information category—planning, goal-setting, measuring performance, disseminating data and evaluating progress—overlap with the other three fields to a greater degree than ever before. Information elements, in short, are key to how a state takes care of its infrastructure, plans for its financial future and deals with the dramatic changes affecting the state work force. Of course, information alone doesn't make a well-managed state. With personnel turnover rates on the rise and retirements looming, states have to figure out ways to retain workers and transfer accumulated knowledge to an ever-changing work force. On the money front, structural balancing of budgets has been a real trick for states that found themselves flush with cash last year, only to see revenue streams wash away in the current declining economy. Infrastructure maintenance continues to be a bill that bedevils the states. —Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene, Governing. See how your state measures up.
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College Grad Site Chooses KPMG
Entry-level job website CollegeGrad.com named KPMG as the top-ranked employer among the Big Four accounting firms in a poll of the site's users. KPMG finished fourth in last year's poll, but came out in front this year. The site credits the firm's college grad initiatives and the expansion of its global programs. KPMG implemented a global internship program and a global new-hire training program in 2007. However, KPMG's projected college recruiting numbers for 2008 are projected to be the lowest of the Big Four, according to the site. When asked which Big Four firm they would prefer to work for, 32 percent of the site's users chose KPMG, compared to 25 percent who voted for PricewaterhouseCoopers, 23 percent for Deloitte & Touche and 20 percent for Ernst & Young. —WebCPA. Read more.
Center for Audit Quality Reports on First Year
The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) has released a Year In Review report on the organization’s emergence as a voice for public company auditors and its efforts to foster confidence in the audit process.
Since its inception in January 2007, the CAQ has launched an ambitious effort to improve financial reporting, reached out to investors and other market stakeholders, forged solid relationships with federal regulators, and offered real-world advice to members.
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Financial Accounting Foundation Approves Changes to FAF, FASB and GASB
The Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) Board of Trustees has approved changes to oversight, structure and operations of FAF and its two standards-setting boards, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Changes include altering the size of the FAF and FASB and securing a permanent funding source for GASB. Read more.
Self-Described 'Fraud Consultant' Charged With Another Embezzlement
A few minutes spent on the website of his private business, Webne Consulting Group, is enough to erase any doubt that Barry Webne intended to position himself as a "fraud prevention expert." For a company in dire need of anti-fraud consultation, Webne might appear to be the perfect answer to their troubles. His perspective on fraud comes from the inside, having been convicted in 1995 of embezzling more than $1 million from a manufacturing company in Cleveland. His website proclaims him a "respected authority on the detection and prevention of occupational fraud, employee theft and white-collar crime" who "currently trains, lectures to and consults with financial professionals across the United States." But according to a bombshell indictment announced earlier this month, prosecutors allege that during his charade as a fraud prevention guru, Webne was stealing more than $1 million from Block Communications, Inc., in Toledo. —Scott Patterson, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Read more.
AGA Today is Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner The Graduate School, USDA
 The Graduate School, USDA provides professional training and educational services to auditors and financial managers in all levels of government. We offer studies in accounting, budgeting, financial management and performance auditing, as well as customized development services to meet your organization’s unique needs. Call (888) 744-GRAD or visit us at www.grad.usda.gov.
GASB Recommends Changes in Fund Balance Reporting
 The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has issued an Exposure Draft of a proposed GASB Statement, Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions. The proposed Statement is intended to improve the usefulness of information provided about fund balance by providing clearer, more structured fund balance classifications, and by clarifying the definitions of existing governmental fund types.
The deadline for responding to the proposal is June 30, 2008.
Audio Conference Set on Citizen-Centric Reporting
AGA is pleased to announce a new audio conference, Improving Government Transparency Through Citizen-Centric Reporting, addressing the need for governments to improve how they report financial information to taxpayers. The audio conference, worth 2 CPE hours, is set for 2 – 3:50 EDT, April 23.
AGA’s Citizen Centric Government Reporting Program encourages governments to publish an annual “state of the government” report that is no more than four pages long. The reports, designed to be visually appealing, provide understandable information to citizens about the performance and financial condition of the government, as well as demographics and future challenges.
Hear what tools are available from AGA to produce such a report and listen to three practitioners who have recently published such reports: Mary Lechner, CGFM, CPA, Chief, Internal Control Branch, U.S. Coast Guard; Sam McCall, CGFM, CPA, City Auditor, Tallahassee, FL; Kim Wallin, Controller, State of Nevada; and Relmond Van Daniker, DBA, CPA, AGA Executive Director.
Cost is $249 per site (UNLIMITED ATTENDANCE) if you register on or before Friday, April 18, 2008 and $299 thereafter. Government agencies and AGA Corporate Partner members who register five or more offices will receive a 20 percent discount. Also, AGA chapters can register for $200 per site.
Register online, or print the regular registration form, or the special promotion registration form and fax it to 703.684.6933.
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