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Register Now for AGA's Fraud Conference
Make plans now to attend AGA’s Second National Internal Control & Fraud Conference, September 10-11, 2007 in Atlanta, GA. With the theme, "Combating Fraud & Minimizing Risk," this event focuses on management's responsibility for ensuring a good system of internal controls and the role of accountability professionals in minimizing the risk of fraud, waste and abuse. The Internal Control & Fraud Conference features leaders from all levels of government, the private sector and academia and offers outstanding sessions and ample opportunities to network.
AGA has brought together the best in the business: William Hamel, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, U.S. Department of Education; Marianne M. Jennings, JD, Professor of Legal and Ethical Studies, Arizona State University; Patrick Meehan, U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Pennsylvania; Richard Skinner, Inspector General U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Jeff Taylor, U.S. Attorney, District of Columbia; and many more.
PMC Registration Brochure Available
Make plans today to join AGA September 24 - 25 in Phoenix, Arizona for the Third Annual National Performance Management Conference. This conference brings together the top minds in the performance management business for two days of top-notch educational sessions and unparalleled networking opportunities.
Download the brochure.
Register online.
Register by mail.
Responses Still Needed on SAS 70 Reports Survey
AGA has extended the deadline to July 31, 2007 to respond to the Corporate Partner Advisory Group Research Survey on SAS 70 Audit Reports. If you are a user of these reports, whether as part of your A-123 work for a federal agency or in some other capacity in state or local government, we want to hear from you. Your response is important and will be useful to the AICPA task force reviewing SAS 70. Members are determining whether changes are needed and the summarized survey responses will be made available to them. All responses to the survey will remain anonymous, unless you tell us otherwise. Do not hit the DONE button until you have completed all the questions. Answer all questions with an asterisk in order to get to the end of the survey. Complete the survey.
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July 16, 2007• 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 Jennifer.Busse@cliftoncpa.com
Conn. Governor Vetoes State Accounting Bill; Sides with GASB
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell has vetoed legislation that would have named State Comptroller Nancy Wyman as the key arbiter of GAAP and thereby given Wyman the power to switch the way she prepares financial statements. In vetoing the bill on July 6, the governor noted that current law gives the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) the authority to determine which accounting standards are "generally accepted" in Connecticut. GASB is an independent, private-sector organization that sets generally accepted accounting principles, known as GAAP, and provides accounting-rule guidance for state and local governments. Rell conceded that Wyman does not intend to deviate from GAAP, but cautioned that "there is nothing in the bill that would prevent a future comptroller from doing so." Rell praised GAAP accounting, noting that it is favored by "bond investors and those making economic decisions." —Marie Leone, CFO.com and wire reports. Read the CFO.com article.
Looking for Quite a Few Good Men and Women
Uncle Sam, the nation's largest employer, is gearing up for a hiring binge. Over the next two years, federal agencies expect to hire nearly 193,000 new workers in almost every occupational field, according to a report from the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group that urges young Americans to consider careers in government. More than 83,000 of the jobs are expected to be filled at the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security as part of the continuing effort to secure the nation from terrorism. Agencies also will be hiring in medicine and public health, accounting and auditing, engineering, science, computers, program management and administration.
"The most striking feature to me is the breadth of need," said Max Stier, president of the partnership. "You aren't seeing three, four or five agencies projecting hiring needs; it is across the board." The hiring is being driven by the impending retirements of thousands of federal employees and by the intensified homeland security efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the report said. Nearly one-third of the 1.6 million full-time members of the federal workforce are expected to retire or resign in the next five years, with large numbers of baby boomers departing, to create staffing shortages. — Stephen Barr, The Washington Post. Read the entire article.
AGA Today is Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner MorganFranklin
MorganFranklin is growing tremendously in the commercial and government marketplace. We are seeking professionals with expertise in finance and accounting to assist business and government leaders with high-stakes financial, operational and IT issues. If this describes you, contact Denise Pollack at 703.564.7525, ext. 296, or visit us online at www.morganfranklin.com.
Federal Accounting Corner
Linking Available Authority Account Balances to the Budget
Integration of the budget with the general ledger is necessary for good financial management. While the Office of Management and Budget and Treasury's Financial Management Service are only interested in the highest level of information (whether or not the funds are apportioned or available), agencies may find it useful to map general ledger accounts to each budget level. This allows agency personnel to use the trial balance to quickly see the status of budgets at a fund-wide or even higher level.
—Simcha Kuritzky, CGFM, CPA. Read the entire column.
Is the Federal/Private Sector Pay Gap Real? Only for Some
The administration’s most recent calculation of how the federal pay compares to nonfederal pay found that nonfederal employees earned an average of 18.4 percent more than their federal counterparts in comparable jobs. But a new database, published by the Asbury Park Press, is challenging the conventional wisdom about the pay gap. There is a pay gap, the data suggests, but it’s strongly in favor of federal employees. Federal employees are paid almost 50 percent more on average than their private-sector counterparts, according to the new analysis of the data. Federal workers on average made $59,864 in 2005, compared with an average salary of $40,505 for the private sector. —Stephen Losey, Federal Times. Read the entire article.
AGA Today is Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner The Graduate School, USDA
 Improving your performance to improve your organization’s results.
The Graduate School, USDA provides professional training and educational services to auditors and financial managers in all levels of government. We offer a wide range of studies in accounting, budgeting, financial management and performance auditing, as well as customized development services to help you create training that meets your organization’s unique needs.
For more information on our Financial Management curriculum, the Government Audit Training Institute, and our other courses and services, call (888) 744-GRAD or visit us at www.grad.usda.gov.
FASAB Seeks Comments on Two Exposure Drafts
 The chairperson of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board's Accounting and Auditing Policy Committee (AAPC), Wendy Comes, CGFM, has announced that the AAPC has issued an exposure draft of a new Federal Financial Accounting Technical Release titled, Implementation Guide for Statement
of Federal Financial Accounting Standards 29: Heritage Assets and Stewardship Land. Comes stated that the proposed technical release “addresses important implementation questions regarding assets for which financial representations do not satisfy federal reporting objectives.” Specific questions for respondents are included in the exposure draft and other comments are welcome. Responses are requested by Aug. 13, 2007.
AAPC has also issued an exposure draft of a new Federal Financial Accounting Technical Release titled, Clarification of Standards Relating to Inter-Entity Cost. Full implementation of the inter-entity cost provisions of Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) 4 is required by SFFAS 30, Inter-Entity Cost Implementation Amending SFFAS 4, Managerial Cost Accounting Standards and Concepts, which becomes effective Sept. 30, 2008. Responses to the exposure draft are requested by Aug. 6, 2007.
GASB Addresses Intangible Assets; Issues Exposure Draft
 In recent weeks, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has issued a final Statement and Concepts Statement and has proposed a new Statement. GASB Statement No. 51, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Intangible Assets, addresses questions that have been raised by practitioners regarding how to identify, report, and amortize intangible assets. Concepts Statement No. 4, Elements of Financial Statements, defines seven basic building blocks of state and local government financial statements, including assets and liabilities. The Concepts Statement is unique in that it defines deferred inflows and outflows of resources as separate elements for the first time. Finally, an Exposure Draft of a proposed standard, Accounting and Financial Reporting for Derivative Instruments, has been published for public review. The proposal incorporates the public feedback the GASB received in response to the Preliminary Views it released on the topic in 2006. The deadline for responding to the proposal is Oct. 26. The proposal can be downloaded free from the GASB’s website, along with news releases, plain-language articles and other information about all three documents. —GASB.
Speakers Set for Aug. 8 Audio Conference on Performance Management and Reporting
AGA, in conjunction with the National Association of State Auditors,Comptrollers and Treasurers (NASACT) and the Association of Local GovernmentAuditors (ALGA) is pleased to announce a new and increasingly important topic to our audio conference participants— Performance Management and Reporting. This audio conference, set for 2 - 3:50 p.m. EDT and worth 2 CPE hours, will explore why performance management and reporting allows government officials to improve service delivery and resource allocation by disclosing strengths and weaknesses to citizens and management and making changes based on those disclosures.
To share their practical experiences in performance management and reporting and to learn the latest in the GASB Service Efforts and Accomplishments Project will be Jay Fountain, CGFM, CPA, CMA, GASB Consultant; Michael Lawson, Director, ICMA Center for Performance Measurement; and Michael Matthes, MPA, Assistant City Manager, Des Moines, Iowa. Cost is $249 per site (unlimited attendance) if you register on or before Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, and $299 thereafter. Register online.
View the audio conference schedule.
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 Pardoe.
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