Highlights
Earn 14 CPE Hours at AGA’s
Internal Control & Fraud Conference
Enhance your existing skills and gain a deeper
understanding of fraud, ethics and internal controls by attending AGA’s
Second National Internal Control & Fraud Conference, to be held
Sept. 10 – 11, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. With the
theme, "Combating Fraud & Minimizing Risk: Strategies for Success," 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 conference features leaders from all levels of
government, the private sector and academia and offers outstanding
sessions and ample opportunities to network.
Audio Conference Set on Leadership Transition
AGA, in
conjunction with the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers
and Treasurers (NASACT), and the Association of Local Government Auditors
(ALGA), is pleased to announce a new audio conference addressing how to make
the transition from individual contributor to leader. This audio conference,
set for 2 – 3:50 p.m. EDT Sept. 20 and worth 2 CPE
hours, will explore what tools and techniques new leaders need to succeed.
To discuss this important personal development challenge is an
industry expert: Robert A. Carnegie, MBA, founder of R.
Carnegie and Associates, Inc. Cost is $249 per site (unlimited attendance)
if you register on or before Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 and
$299 thereafter.
Register online
View the full audio conference schedule.
Training Opportunities
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August 27,
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
AGA's FMSB Issues Two Comment Letters to
FASAB
AGA's Financial Management Standards Board
(FMSB) has commented on two proposals by the Federal Accounting
Standards Advisory Board (FASAB). One is a proposed Federal Financial
Accounting Technical Release titled, Implementation Guide for
Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards 29: Heritage Assets
and Stewardship Land.
Read the comment letter.
The second is a proposed technical release providing
guidance to federal entities on three aspects of full costing,
Clarification of Standards Relating to Inter-Entity Costs.
Read the comment letter.
Analyst Urges NY to
Trim Retiree Health Benefits
Faced with a staggering $47 billion potential bill for the health care
of future retirees from government jobs, the state should look at ways
to cut back on benefits for future pensioners, a financial analyst
contends. "The benefits have to be restructured," said E.J. McMahon of
the Empire Center, a conservative think-tank. "It's simply not fair and
not affordable to continue promising (state workers) employer-paid
health insurance for the rest of their lives." The state pays about $1
billion a year for health care for retired workers. But to be able to
pay for the same coverage for future retirees, the state should be
socking away about $2.8 billion a year more, according to accounting
estimates. The state has to start estimating this year the future costs
of such benefits under a ruling by the Government Accounting Standards
Board. The state is prevented from cutting the pensions of retired state
workers by the state constitution, but there is no prohibition on
cutting medical benefits for retirees. —Jay Gallagher, The Journal
News.
Read the entire article.
AGA Today is Brought to
You by Becker CPA Review
 The
CPA Exam isn't easy.
Paying for
Becker CPA Review is.
If you’re a federal employee, you can prepare for the CPA Exam with the
leading exam prep provider—Becker CPA Review—at a dramatic tuition
discount (Contract # GS-02F-0105R). You may even qualify for full
tuition reimbursement. Contact us at 1-877-CPA-EXAM or
Becker CPA Review or e-mail
Monica Callahan to learn more about this career defining
opportunity.
TV Ads Help Feds With
Employment Crisis
As recently as February, the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) considered
itself lucky to draw 15 or 16 people to a regional job fair. But in
March, a PTO job fair in Detroit was so packed that the agency had to
schedule a second fair in April to handle the overflow. What made such a
difference so quickly? Officials say it was a 30-second television
advertisement featuring a patent examiner named Sherry Estremsky. The
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) says that the
series of nine television ads it created and aired over the last 15
months has aroused job seekers’ interest in the federal government and
driven traffic to its USAJOBS Web site. OPM communications director
Susan Bryant said the ads had immediate results. Every time another ad
aired, the number of unique visitors to USAJOBS.gov spiked, she said,
and numbers stayed high as those new visitors returned to further
investigate jobs. “It’s almost like they’re hooked,” Bryant said. “We’re
not YouTube, but we’re doing pretty well.” —Stephen Losey, Federal
Times.
Read the entire article.
Do Vacationing Bosses Ever Take
A Break?
The president of a small manufacturing company in Cleveland told his top
marketing manager that he wasn't going to be reachable during a recent
weeklong safari in Africa. But midway through the week, the manager
received a voice-mail message from his boss inquiring whether he had
completed a particular assignment—and telling him which task to tackle
next. "I felt he didn't trust that I knew how to do my job," the
marketing manager says. "When he got back from vacation and I asked how
he'd managed to get a cellphone signal in the jungle, he confessed he'd
programmed the voice-mail message to me before he left." Fed up with
being micromanaged, the manager quit shortly afterward. It's vacation
season—but many executives not only limit themselves to breaks of just a
few days, they also continue to check in with employees and issue
directives from yachts, beaches and mountain resorts. Their refusal to
turn off their cellphones and BlackBerrys means they are never relieved
of work pressures no matter how remote or luxurious their vacation
destinations. In addition, those executives who can't disengage from the
office and delegate authority undermine employees' confidence to make
decisions and be creative. —Carol Hymowitz, The Wall Street Journal.
Read the entire article.
FASAB Seeks Comments on New
Exposure Draft
 The
Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) is requesting
comments on an Exposure Draft, Reporting the Gains and Losses from
Changes in Assumptions and Selecting Discount Rates and Valuation Dates.
The ED proposes new financial statement display for the gains and losses
from changes in assumptions. Such gains and losses will now be shown as
individual items on the statement of net cost. In addition, the ED
proposes guidance for selecting discount rates and valuation dates for
present value measurement. Comments are requested by Nov. 30, 2007. The
ED and specific information requested are available on
FASAB's website.
 Last
Week to Register Early for AGA's Performance Management Conference
AGA’s Third Annual National
Performance Management Conference is set for Sept. 24 – 25, 2007, at
the Embassy Suites Phoenix/Scottsdale.
Are you a state or local government performance manager looking for
resources to improve your entity’s Service Efforts and
Accomplishments (SEA) Reports? AGA’s PMC offers 14 CPE hours and the
opportunity to share best practices with industry leaders and peers.
Confirmed speakers include:
- Robert H. Attmore, CGFM, CPA,
Chairman, Governmental Accounting Standards Board
- Frank Fairbanks, City Manager,
City of Phoenix, AZ
- Michael Lawson, Director,
Center for Performance Management, International City/County Management
Association
- Rep. Mark Miloscia, House of
Representatives, State of Washington
- D. Clark Partridge, CGFM,
State Comptroller, Department of Administration, General Accounting
Office, State of Arizona
- David R. Smith, County
Manager, Maricopa County, AZ
- Jonathan Walters, Staff
Correspondent, Governing Magazine, Author, Measuring Up
2.0
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