Highlights
AGA's Performance Management Conference
Approaching
Register today for AGA's Fourth Annual Performance
Management Conference at the
Renaissance Seattle Hotel.
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,
former Associate Director for Administration and Government Performance,
U.S. Office of Management and Budget, will round out our keynote
speakers. The conference will include
sessions for both the state and local government officials as well as
federal government employees.
For more information,
visit our website.
Training Opportunities
Research on Performance-Based Management Reporting Topic of Tomorrow's 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 tomorrow,
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 Frank Wood, MBA, Deputy
Chief, Office of Performance Management and Decision Support, U.S. Coast
Guard; 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.
SPECIAL PROMOTION: Government
agencies and CPAG members who register five or more offices will pay
$200 per site.
Register online.
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.
Soft
Controls Audio Conference Set for Nov. 12
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 an audio conference,
Understanding the Importance of Soft Controls in Improving Operations.
Register online
Print the registration form or
Special Promotion Registration and fax it to 703.684.6933.
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October 14,
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
Fiscal Report Sees 'Great
Trouble' Brewing for States
Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, and Rhode Island currently are
suffering the most from worsening U.S. economic problems, but
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and other states will soon be in the
same boat, a leading state policy research center says. In its
latest quarterly report on state tax revenues, the
Rockefeller Institute of Government warned Oct. 7 that “great
trouble is brewing” for states as economic distress spreads from Wall
Street and other financial markets into the larger economy. —Stateline.org.
Read more.
SEC Chairman Blames Lack of
Transparency for Market Turmoil
The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission said last week that
the need for a modern financial reporting system is more pressing than
ever, given the current market crisis. Speaking at a roundtable
discussion at SEC headquarters in Washington about his agency's efforts
to modernize the financial disclosure system, Chairman Chris Cox said
insufficient transparency "is at the heart of today's market problems."
He said, "Never in this agency's history has this fundamental mission
been more relevant, and more urgent. The current credit crisis has shown
the importance of transparency to a healthy marketplace—and how costly
hidden risk can be." Cox also listed several actions taken in recent
months by SEC to combat fraud and insider trading. The Oct. 8 panel was
part of the SEC's 21st Century Disclosure Initiative, which Cox
announced in June. The aim is to modernize the disclosure system so
companies report their financial information in a more useful and
transparent way to investors and regulators, while also expanding the
role of technology. —Gautham Nagesh, Government Executive.
Read more.
AGA Today is Brought to You by Becker CPA Review
 New
Online Becker CPE
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brings together over 50 years of experience in professional development
to offer a new level of online CPE learning. Start Today! Receive 20%
off your first purchase with Becker CPE. (a $35 value!)
Visit
www.beckercpe.com or contact
John Gioeli 703-631-8840.
U.S. Treasury Considers Buying
Stakes in Banks
The Treasury Department is considering ways to inject capital directly
into banks, possibly by taking equity stakes, as the financial crisis
continues to worsen. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in a marked shift
in rhetoric, played up Treasury's newfound authority to "to inject
capital into financial institutions" in remarks Oct. 8. Paulson, who won
approval from Congress to buy $700 billion worth of distressed assets,
had previously focused on Treasury's plan to buy mortgage-related
securities from financial institutions that are having trouble getting
the assets off their books. As the financial crisis continues to
escalate, Treasury has begun fleshing out ways to use its authority to
make direct injections into financial institutions. —Deborah Solomon,
The Wall Street Journal.
Read more.
Federal Accounting Corner
Advances, Cash, and Budgetary Accounts
The U. S. Standard General Ledger (SGL) has several accounts that do
double duty. Account 4802 Undelivered Orders—Obligations,
Prepaid/Advanced is associated with both 1410 Advances and Prepayments
and 1010 Fund Balance with Treasury. This trilateral relationship can
get quite tricky. (In actuality, account 4832 is posted for transfers,
4872 for downward adjustments against old years and 4882 for upward
adjustments of 4802; but for this column we're going to include those
accounts under 4802.) —Simcha Kuritzky, CGFM, CPA.
Read more.
AGA Today is Brought
to You by AGA Corporate Partner The Graduate School, USDA
 Decision
Support for Federal Managers
The Graduate School, USDA’s
Decision Support: Building New Analytical Skills helps
federal leaders and analysts understand the need for better decision
information and enables them to develop and build skills in several
techniques for financial and performance management and decision making.
Visit
www.grad.usda.gov or call (888) 744-GRAD.
Memo
to New Federal Agency Heads: Listen to Staff
If you buy a new car, it comes with an owner's manual. If you buy a dresser
from Ikea, instructions tell you how to put it together. If you become the
boss of a federal agency, good luck. Jonathan D. Breul wants the next set of
government managers to have more than luck. His 22 years at the U.S. Office
of Management and Budget, rising to become the top career executive for
management policies, taught him that the officials who come to town with any
new administration need more than the on-the-job training they usually get.
So, now, in his current role as executive director of the IBM Center for the
Business of Government, Breul and three colleagues—Mark A. Abramson, John M.
Kamensky and G. Martin Wagner—have produced two how-to volumes for those who
will run government agencies and their senior teams, including political
appointees and civil servants. —Joe Davidson, The Washington Post.
Read more.
CEAR Board's Werfel, Main Earn
Presidential Rank Awards
President Bush has recognized more than 350 career federal executives
with 2008 Presidential Rank Awards. Two members of AGA's Certificate of
Excellence in Accountability Reporting (CEAR) Board were honored for
their outstanding leadership and longtime service to government.
Daniel Werfel, Deputy Controller, Office of Federal Financial
Management, Office of Management and Budget, was named a Meritorious
Executive, an honor limited to 5 percent of the corps. Jennifer
Main, CGFM, CPA, the Chief Financial Officer of the Small
Business Administration, was named a Distinguished Executive, an honor
limited to 1 percent of the senior professional and senior executive
corps. "Winners of the prestigious Presidential Rank Award represent the
cream of the crop within the federal executive ranks," Office of
Personnel Management acting Director Michael Hager said in a statement
announcing the 2008 awards. "Their professional dedication and
commitment to excellence is helping to advance President Bush's agenda
for enhancing federal government performance and creating a more
effective civil service." —Government Executive.
Read more.
This Week on
AGA's Blog
Visit the AGA Blog at
http://aga.typepad.com/aga/.
Wednesday: Nancy Shepherd, CPA, Senior Field
Auditor, Family and Social Services Administration, State of Indiana, on
"Advocating for Our Cause"
Friday: Bob Prieto, senior vice president,
Fluor Corporation, on "The Challenge Ahead"
If you have questions about how to post a comment or
subscribe to the feed that sends blog entries straight to your e-mail
address, you can
find out more. Want to spend a day as our guest on the blog? Contact
Marie Force, communications director.
GASB to Hold User Forum on Performance Reporting
 The
Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) will hold a forum
exclusively for external financial statement users and a public hearing
to obtain information about the issues discussed in the
Request for Response, Suggested Guidelines for Voluntary Reporting
of SEA Performance Information. The purpose of the forum and
hearing is to obtain feedback from constituents at an early stage of the
board’s project to develop guidelines to assist state and local
governments that voluntarily choose to report on their service efforts
and accomplishments (SEA).
- User Forum—2 p.m., Nov. 7, 2008 at the Crown Plaza LaGuardia Airport
Hotel, 104–14 Ditmars Boulevard, East Elmhurst, NY.
- Public Hearing—8 a.m., Nov. 14, 2008, in conjunction with the
National League of Cities’ annual Congress of Cities &
Exposition—Orlando World Center Marriott Resort and Convention Center,
8701 World Center Drive, Orlando, FL.
The deadline for notifying the GASB of an intention to
participate in the forum or for submitting written comments is Oct. 31,
2008. Contact Ragan Vincent,
203.956.5372. Written comments can be made through an
Internet form or by mailing them to GASB, 401 Merritt 7, P.O. Box
5116, Norwalk, CT 06856-5116. Comments can be sent by
e-mail as well.
AGA's Second Government Finance Case Challenge
 The
best undergraduate accounting/financial management/business students in the
country are invited to compete in AGA’s Second Government Finance Case
Challenge for undergraduate college students, which runs Oct. 20–31. Student
teams will collaboratively analyze and offer a written response to a case
centered on how a U.S. city government implements a performance management
system. The registration deadline is Friday, Oct. 17, 2008.
All members of the two highest-scoring
teams will receive a scholarship to attend AGA's National Leadership
Conference, set for Feb. 19–20, 2009, in Washington, D.C. Teams will present
their solutions before a panel of federal/state/local government leaders,
corporate partners and CFOs on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009. The winning team
will be announced at the awards luncheon on Feb. 20, 2009. Cash prizes will
be awarded to the winning team, and each student participant will receive a
free one-year membership to AGA.
The experience promises to challenge students' moral
reasoning, raise their awareness of the importance of government
accountability and open doors to a future career in government. We need
your assistance to make this program a success. If you or your chapter
has a connection with a local college or university, please consider
contacting the institution to introduce this competition.
Learn more. Contact Jennifer
Curtin at 800.AGA.7211, ext. 340, with questions.
AGA Announces Four New Courses
Four new AGA-sponsored courses are designed to help financial managers and
auditors add value to government performance. The courses are presented
in cooperation with The Auditor Roles in Performance Measurement Project
Team of The Institute of Internal Auditors, which developed the courses
under a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. These courses can be
customized to an organization’s needs, to immerse participants in
high-value audit skills and provide additional ways to apply them. The
four courses include:
- A New Service Model: Auditor Roles in Government
Performance Measurement
- Assessing the Reliability and Relevance of
Performance Information
- Assessing the Quality of Performance Information
and Performance Reports
- Auditing Performance Management Systems
Read more details about these and other AGA-sponsored training courses,
or contact AGA Director of Education
Joe Jozefczyk at 800.AGA.7211, ext. 307.
AGA
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