Highlights
Soft Controls Audio Conference Set for
Wednesday
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 set for Nov. 12, 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.
eC3 Sets
Conference, Intersecting Technology with the Business of
Government
The National Electronic Commerce
Coordinating Council’s (eC3) 13th Annual Conference,
Intersecting Technology with the Business of Government, is
set for Dec. 9–12, 2008, at the W Hotel in
Seattle. The conference is a unique opportunity for public and private
sector leaders to share best practices on a range of emerging
technology issues facing governments across the nation. If you
haven’t registered yet, it’s not too late.
Read the
agenda.
Register online.
Print the
registration form
A block of rooms is reserved at the W Hotel,
1112 Fourth Ave., in the heart of downtown Seattle. The room rate is
$152 (plus tax) for single and double occupancy until Sunday,
Nov. 28, 2008. Call 888.627.8552 (Mention you are
attending the eC3 conference) or reserve your room online.
For more information, call 703.562.0776 or
e-mail ec3@ec3.org.
This Week on AGA's Blog
Visit the AGA Blog.
Monday: Tom Sadowski, CGFM, CPA, Missouri State
Controller, on "Financial Literacy"
Wednesday: Lealan Miller, CGFM, partner, Eide Baily LLP, on
"Auditing in the 21st Century—Part II"
Friday: Eric Berman, CPA, deputy comptroller of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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.
Upcoming Audio Conferences
Dec. 10—21st Century Financial Managers: New Mix of
Skills and Education Levels
See the schedule for next year.
Training
Opportunities
Cost Recovery Auditing Audio Conference Added
AGA announces a new audio conference, Cost Recovery Auditing,
scheduled for 2–3:50 p.m. EST Feb. 25.
Normally $249 per phone line, the cost has been discounted to $200 for
AGA chapters, ADVANTAGE Group Membership
agencies and government agencies and CPAG partners with five or more
offices who register for the program, which offers 2 CPE hours per
participant. That is a 20 percent discount off the early registration
rate. Watch for details in TOPICS, AGA Today and on the website.
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November 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, 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 Issues
Comment Letter on SEA Reporting
AGA's
Financial Management Standards Board (FMSB) has sent
a comment letter to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board
(GASB) on its Request for Response on its Suggested Guidelines for
Voluntary Reporting of SEA Performance Information. The FMSB
applauds the GASB for compressing the previous suggested criteria into
four components and six qualitative characteristics but saw one
drawback; there is less specific guidance for new users or preparers of
SEA reports. The FMSB suggests that the GASB consider issuing
supplementary guidance or encouraging other organizations, such as AGA,
to do so. An AGA FMSB representative participated in GASB’s user
forum on the Request for Response held on Nov. 7 and will testify at
the public hearing scheduled for Nov. 14. Read the comment letter.
Obama Plan Could Shake
Up Federal Work Force
If President-elect Barack Obama makes good on his campaign
promises, the federal government may be headed for a major shakeup,
including the reassignment of many middle-managers, a sharp reduction
in the number of outside contracts, and new performance standards for
workers. Obama's governing document, "Blueprint for Change," contains
dozens of proposals that, if put into effect, would ripple through the
1.8 million federal workforce and every department and agency. He has
also vowed to order a line-by-line review of the federal budget to weed
out ineffective programs. —Lois Romano and Eric Pianin, The
Washington Post. Read more.
AGA Today is Brought to You by Becker CPA
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What Obama Could
Do for States
Barack Obama will take over as president at a tumultuous time for state
governments, many of which have been jolted by an economic downturn
that analysts say could last into 2010. Whether Obama can strengthen
the relationship between the federal government and the states will
ultimately depend on how soon he can turn around the economy, according
to state officials. —Stephen C. Fehr, Stateline.org.
Read more.
Fraud and the
Financial Meltdown: Critical Lessons
Whenever the dust settles from
the current economic disaster, one major element of the crisis will
make news headlines for years to come. That element is—you
guessed it—fraud. The question now
is not whether fraud played a role in bringing about the current
crisis, but rather how extensive and complex the fraud factor is. And
those answers will only emerge over time as prosecutors, auditors,
defense attorneys, regulators, investigators, judges and juries toil
over the next months and years to determine (among other
things)…
• Who is guilty of fraud.
• What kinds of fraud were committed in the run-up to the
meltdown.
• Why fraud was not detected—and acted on—before
things got “out of hand”.
• Who will pay for the damage attribute to fraud….and
how much.
If there is a silver lining in the worst
financial catastrophe since the Great Depression, it is that an array
of new insights into the dynamics of financial crime is certain to
emerge from the shocking events of recent months. —Peter
Goldmann, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. 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.
Federal
Accounting Corner
Cumulative Accounts
Treasury has set up the Standard General Ledger (SGL)
and posting logic for their own purposes, primarily to prepare
financial statements for the federal government as a whole. Many
agencies have reporting or control needs that require significantly
different posting logic. The trick is to come up with a chart of
accounts and posting model that meets the agency's needs, but does not
unduly hamper the preparation of SGL-based reports. — by Simcha
Kuritzky, CGFM, CPA. Read the entire column.
Congratulations,
President-Elect Obama. Now Reach Out to Senior Executives
That the incoming Obama administration will face huge challenges is
indisputable. Many good government groups in Washington are anxious to
help, and each seems to have produced a hefty document outlining how he
and his new team can accomplish a seamless transition and govern
effectively. That advice probably isn't at the top of the
president-elect's must-read list just yet. But in that gusher of
transition advice, one message is critical: The new president and his
appointees must embrace the career executive corps and effectively
engage it if they are to meet those challenges. —Carol Bonasaro,
Government Executive. Read more.
'Tis the Season to Ace
Your Performance Review
If there's ever been a year to ace the annual performance review,
2008 may be it. Employers commonly trim their ranks when the economy
turns sour, and low-rated workers are typically the first to go, say
career experts. What's more, poor performers often receive low merit
increases or none at all. To enhance your job security and boost your
odds of financial success, start preparing now for your end-of-year
review, advises Jill Smart, chief human resources officer at Accenture
Ltd., a global professional-services firm. "By the time you walk
into that meeting, there should be no surprises," she says.
—Sarah Needleman, The Wall Street Journal. Read more.
Are You Looking for Ways to Reduce Your Expenses? AGA
Can Help
Sign up for AGA’s Expense Recovery Auditing Course. This
course is vital for any financial manager looking for ways to reduce
budget outlays, without reducing funding for programs within their
organization. It examines the process of planning, performing and
contracting for expense recovery audits. Participants will be provided
with an overview of such audits and will explore ways to identify high
payoff areas such as:
• Utility expenses
• Fuel Taxes
• Fleet Management
• Construction Recoveries
• Lease Exposure
• Duplicate Payment issues
• Hidden Taxes
The course also includes a discussion of contracting for
services, as well as the advantage of conducting audits in-house.
Finally, the process used to recover overpayments made, as well as
steps necessary to adjust accounts going forward will be explored. 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 Offers Four New
Government Performance 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 to
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.
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