Untitled Document

Highlights

There's Still Time to Register for AGA's Internal Control and Fraud Conference
If you’ve already registered for AGA's Third Annual Internal Control & Fraud Conference, set for Sept. 22–23 at the Wyndham Phoenix, we look forward to seeing you! You’ve made a smart investment in yourself and your organization.

But if you have not yet registered, don’t worry… there’s still time. To make hotel reservations, please call 800.359.7253 and mention you are attending the “AGA Fraud Conference.”

Join us to earn 14 valuable CPE hours and hear from the top financial management leaders and industry experts, including:

Roger Drye, Director, Internal Control Services, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs

Mark Funkhouser, Ph.D., CIA, Mayor of Kansas City, MO

David R. Hancox, Audit Director, Comptroller’s Office, State of New York

Matthew A. Jadacki, CGFM, CPA, Deputy Inspector General, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Marianne M. Jennings, JD, Professor of Legal and Ethical Studies, Arizona State University

Joseph T. McDermott, Executive Advisor, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense

Brian D. Miller, Inspector General,U.S. General Services Administration

David L. Norquist, Chief Financial Officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Michael L. Piazza, MBA, Director of Program Development and Training, Institute for Internal Controls

John J. Radford, CGFM, CFE, CIA, Controller, State of Oregon

Steven Russo, JD, Chief of Investigations, Senior Staff Counsel, Bureau of State Audits, State of California

Richard L. Skinner, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Kim R. Wallin, CPA, CMA, CFM, Controller, State of Nevada

Douglas W. Webster, DBA, Chief Financial Officer, U.S. Department of Labor

Information about the agenda, speakers and technical sessions is available online.

Research on Performance-Based Management Reporting Topic of Oct. 15 Audio Conference
AGA is pleased to announce its latest audio conference, worth 2 CPE hours, on one of its important ongoing research projects, which demonstrates the value of government financial and performance reporting. Hear an overview of AGA’s research project on Performance-Based Reporting, set for 2–3:50 p.m. EDT Oct. 15. The speakers share the results of Phase I of the research and describe Phase II, recently completed. The discussion includes aspects of multi-dimensional accounting and the ability to use accounting information in forward looking/predictive manner.

Speakers are Kristine Lee Leiphart, Ph.D., Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Budget and Policy, Federal Transit Administration; Peter Chipman, Budget Analyst, Office of Budget and Policy, Federal Transit Administration; Martin J. Rajk, Deputy Assistant Commandant for Resources and Deputy Chief Financial Officer for the U.S. Coast Guard; Clifton A. Williams, CGFM, CPA, Partner, Grant Thornton LLP; and James Brimson, MS, founder of Activity-Based Management Institute.

Cost is $249 per site (UNLIMITED ATTENDANCE) if you register on or before Friday, Oct.10, 2008 and $299 thereafter. SPECIAL PROMOTION: Government agencies and CPAG members who register five or more offices will pay $200 per site.

Contact Maria Lucas at 800.AGA.7211 ext. 308 with registration questions. Questions regarding the program should be directed to Raymond Harris at ext. 339.

September 15, 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, Harrisburg, PA, and Arlington, VA, 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

AGA's FMSB Comments on GAO Proposal
AGA's Financial Management Standards Board (FMSB) has issued a comment letter to the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) revisions to its Federal System Controls Audit Manual. The FMSB found the updated document to be comprehensive and very current and therefore useful to IT auditors. Read the entire letter.

McCain Versus Obama: The Difference for States
Barack Obama and John McCain have emerged from back-to-back conventions with broad visions of where they would lead the country and competing ideas on a host of issues that will have repercussions throughout state government, right down to the local driver’s license bureau. States are looking to the next president to help resolve problems they must deal with day-to-day, from out-of-control medical costs to failing schools. The next president’s policies will determine such things as how many uninsured Americans states can afford to send to the doctor, whether crumbling bridges get fixed, which states will be winners or losers in the race for new energy sources, and whether jobs will stay in state or go overseas. An urgent matter for states is how McCain, a Republican, or Obama, a Democrat, would boost the national economy, which has been damaged by the housing and mortgage crisis. After years of increasing tax revenue, at least 29 states face budget restraints this year because of falling receipts. The slump has forced some governors and state lawmakers to cut services or raise taxes to balance their budgets. —Pamela M. Prah and Stephen C. Fehr, Stateline.org. Read more.

AGA Today is Brought to You by Becker CPA Review

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Federal Accounting Corner
When Zero Doesn't Mean Nothing
Yes, that's a double negative, and no, it's not there for emphasis, but rather to be taken literally. We often assume that if an account has a zero balance then there is nothing in the account. Sometimes that assumption is wrong. There is a new emphasis in agencies today on cleaning up old data, either for conversion to a new system or to better manage the current one. Funds that do not close, such as deposit and no-year funds, can have balances from long ago—even before agencies had implemented the Standard General Ledger or current posting logic. Reconciling an account with a decade or more of data in it can be quite daunting. Accountants, in the interest of efficiency, look for ways to cut down on the data that needs to be analyzed. If the balance of an account was ever zero, one can safely assume that all the entries were cleared out, and the balance only comes from transactions that occurred since that point, right? —Simcha Kuritzky, CGFM, CPA. Read more.

This Week on AGA's Blog
Visit the AGA Blog at http://aga.typepad.com/aga/.

This week:
Monday: Robert Horton, Director, Publications and Collections, Minnesota Historical Society, on "Digital Preservation"
Friday: Katie Malague, Senior Manager, Partnership for Public Service, on "Preparing to Govern: When Candidate Becomes President"

Questions about how to post a comment or how to subscribe to the feed that sends blog entries straight to your e-mail address? Find out more. Want to spend a day as our guest on the blog? Contact Marie Force, communications director.

AGA Today is Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner The Graduate School, USDA
Practical Statistical Sampling for Auditors—Online!

Gain an understanding of the basic concepts of statistical sampling and how they can be applied to decision making. In this new Graduate School course, you learn how concepts of statistical sampling play in auditing/inspection/fact-finding.

For information, visit the Graduate School, USDA, or call (888) 744-GRAD.

Federal Deficit Soaring, but McCain, Obama Offer no Answers
Just weeks before the government's fiscal year ends Sept. 30, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected a near-record federal budget deficit of $407 billion, sharply higher than White House projections six weeks ago and more than double last year's figure. Mammoth federal-budget deficits feed inflation, make America dependent on foreign lenders, cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in interest payments on the growing national debt and drain capital savings from more productive investments. The widening gap between what the government spends and the revenue it brings in is sure to weigh on the next president and impede his efforts to spend on new or larger programs or to cut taxes. Yet John McCain and Barack Obama show few signs that they're ready to take tough steps to curb deficits, according to budget analysts. "I don't think either candidate is treating the deficit, or the debt, seriously. And I don't see any proposals from either one that would make the situation any better," said Robert Bixby, the executive director of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan budget-watchdog organization. —David Lightman and Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers. Read more.

Whistle-blowers Help U.S. Recoup $9.3 Billion
Whistle-blowers helped authorities recover at least $9.3 billion from health care providers accused of defrauding states and the federal government, according to an analysis of Justice Department records.
The department ramped up efforts in the 1990s to combat health care fraud by using private citizens with inside knowledge of wrongdoing. They now initiate more than 90 percent of the department's lawsuits focusing on health care fraud. Whistle-blowers start cases by filing a sealed complaint in federal court. The department investigates the allegation and can intervene, assuming the lead role in the lawsuit. Whistle-blowers then get between 15 percent and 25 percent of the amount recovered. Of the $9.3 billion recovered between 1996 and 2005, whistle-blowers got more than $1 billion, say analysts, writing for the Annals of Internal Medicine. —Kevin Freking, Associated Press. Read more.

AGA Today is Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner CACI
Calling Cleared Professionals! Join CACI

September 23rd, 11am - 7pm
Crystal City Crowne Plaza
1480 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA

Seeking TS/SCI Cleared professional in:
Performance Management, Financial Strategy/Management, Budget Execution, Accounting, Business Systems Implementation, ITIL, Process Improvement, Organizational Change

RSVPs requested to CACIrecruitingevent@caci.com.

OPM Issues Guide to Overhauling Federal Hiring Process
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has launched an initiative designed to streamline the recruitment and hiring processes at federal agencies.The hiring guide, which was developed by OPM and the Chief Human Capital Officers Council, aims to simplify the federal hiring process and improve the applicant's experience with it, according to a memorandum from OPM acting Director Michael Hager. "There is broad agreement that the current competitive hiring process could be improved," the guide stated. "These combined frustrations make it more difficult for the federal government to hire qualified employees in the stiff competition for the top talent." The plan focuses on the applicant's hiring experience by ensuring they understand the process, receive timely and clear communications and, once hired, are quickly acculturated to federal agencies. —Brittany R. Ballenstedt, Government Executive. Read more.

GASB Seeks Comment on Postemployment Benefits TB
Tuesday, Sept. 30 is the deadline for commenting on the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s (GASB) proposed Technical Bulletin, Determining the Annual Required Contribution for Postemployment Benefits. The proposal can be downloaded free from the GASB website. This proposed TB would clarify that the use of known amounts for purposes of calculating the annual required contribution adjustment relating to pensions and other postemployment benefits is consistent with the intent of existing standards, and that use of the known amount in place of the estimation procedure is encouraged.

FASAB Releases Exposure Draft on Fiscal Sustainability Reporting
The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) has released an exposure draft called, Reporting Comprehensive Long-Term Fiscal Projections for the U.S. Government. One of FASAB’s federal financial reporting objectives—the stewardship objective—includes enabling readers to determine whether future budgetary resources will likely be sufficient to sustain public services and to meet obligations as they come due. FASAB Chairman Tom Allen noted that “the question of the long-term fiscal sustainability of U.S. government services may be among the most important questions of our time. The board believes that fully meeting the stewardship objective requires non-traditional approaches to complement and enrich the information from the federal government’s balance sheets and operating statements. The proposed reporting will include information about projected trends in the federal budget deficit or surplus and the federal debt and how these amounts relate to the national economy.”

Comments on the exposure draft are requested by Jan. 5, 2009 and a public hearing will be held on Feb. 25, 2009. Paper copies are available by calling 202.512.7350.

Since the objective of the proposed reporting is not only to provide information that is useful and necessary in assessing fiscal sustainability, but also to effectively communicate the information in way that is meaningful and understandable to readers, FASAB is particularly interested in receiving comments from the public.

Don't Forget to Register for AGA's Performance Management Conference in Seattle
If you know anything about performance management and reporting then you won't want to miss Harry Hatry, Urban Institute, and Paul Posner, George Mason University, as they share with us "We've Come a Long Way, Baby—Forty Years of Performance Management and Reporting." Hatry and Posner will speak on Monday, Oct. 27, immediately following a Washington welcome from Ron Sims, King County (WA) Executive.

On Tuesday, Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag, Robert Attmore, CGFM, chair, Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and Robert Shea, Associate Director for Administration and Government Performance, U.S. Office of Management and Budget, will round out our keynote speakers.

The conference is scheduled for October 27–28, 2008, in Seattle, WA, and will include sessions for both the state and local government officials as well as federal government employees. Early registration ends Sept. 29, 2008. For more information, visit our website.

Candid Photos Available Online of AGA's PDC
AGA's field representative and Past National President Bobby Derrick, CGFM, has kindly created a "group room" on snapfish.com, which contains hundreds of candid photos from AGA's PDC in Atlanta. Members can download and/or print any of the images. You can also use this room to write messages to the group, order prints and present gifts of each others' photos and more. Check it out.

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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AGA's Second Government Finance Case Challenge, Oct. 6, 2008

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