Highlights
AGA Launches Online Government Fraud ToolKit
At a time when public officials must do more with less, a group of federal, state and local government volunteers, brought together by AGA, on Thursday released a state-of-the-art, online resource designed to help officials at all levels of government prevent, detect and deter fraud. AGA’s Online Government Fraud Prevention ToolKit promotes program integrity at all levels of government.
View the ToolKit.
AGA’s ToolKit contains a comprehensive array of tools, posters, educational materials, PowerPoint presentations and videos. It is organized in a manner that promotes education. Users can find tools by looking under business process, such as accounts receivable, program area, such as the Office of Management and Budget’s high-risk programs, or by fraud type, such as bid-rigging.
The ToolKit differs from other online resources because it specifically targets fraud within government. In addition, materials in the ToolKit have been vetted by experts from a cross section of disciplines. As a result, only the most helpful materials are included. The ToolKit was developed by AGA's Partnership for Intergovernmental Management and Accountability.
Register today for AGA’s 10th Annual National Leadership Conference, Feb. 16–17, 2012, at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.
10 Reasons to Attend:
- Low-cost registration price plus $100 in savings for registering by Jan. 20.
- Show your commitment to government accountability excellence.
- Earn 14 CPE hours.
- Be inspired by top leaders in federal, state and local government.
- Connect with new colleagues and renew contacts.
- Discover innovative and creative ways to improve your job performance.
- Gain new skills and knowledge to help you become an extraordinary leader.
- Speak with private sector partners who can provide solutions to your most pressing challenges and win great prizes.
- Support this year’s National Leadership Award recipients.
- Experience all there is to see and do in Washington, D.C.
For Attendees—Register today!
For Exhibitors and Sponsors—The NLC is the perfect place to reach your target audience. Space is limited.
Reserve your booth space.
Consider becoming a sponsor.
Upcoming Audio Conferences
Dec. 7: Using Performance Information to Drive Performance Improvement
Dec. 14: Boost Efficiency, Accuracy, Transparency, Fraud Detection and Cost Savings by Preventing Inappropriate Payments
Jan. 11: Getting a Handle on Internal Controls
March 7: Data Mining to Prioritize Investigations of Contract Fraud
April 18: Find Strength in Numbers: Sampling Techniques to Improve Financial Audit, Control and Program Performance
2011—2012 Audio Conference Schedule
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December 5, 2011 • News from the Profession
AGA Today is Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner Clifton Gunderson
 Clifton Gunderson's offices in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, MD, and Arlington, VA, are seeking experienced professionals to join our public sector practice. Ideal candidates will have 3 yrs of Public Accounting or equivalent audit experience along with a BA/BS in Accounting/IT/IS, CPA, CGFM, CISA and/or CISSP. 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
State and Local News
As Public Sector Sheds Jobs, African-Americans Hit Hardest
Don Buckley lost his job driving a Chicago Transit Authority bus almost two years ago and has been looking for work ever since, even as other municipal bus drivers around the country are being laid off. At 34, Buckley, his two daughters and his fiancée have moved into the basement of his mother’s house. He has had to delay his marriage, and his entire savings, $27,000, is gone. “I was the kind of person who put away for a rainy day,” he said recently. “It’s flooding now.” Buckley is one of tens of thousands of once solidly middle-class African-American government workers — bus drivers in Chicago, police officers and firefighters in Cleveland, nurses and doctors in Florida — who have been laid off since the recession ended in June 2009. Such job losses have blunted gains made in employment and wealth during the previous decade and undermined the stability of neighborhoods where there are now fewer black professionals who own homes or who get up every morning to go to work. Though the recession and continuing economic downturn have been devastating to the American middle class as a whole, the two and a half years since the declared end of the recession have been singularly harmful to middle-class blacks in terms of layoffs and unemployment, according to economists and recent government data. About one in five black workers have public-sector jobs, and African-American workers are one-third more likely than white ones to be employed in the public sector. —Timothy Williams, The New York Times. Read more.
Most States' Spending is Below Pre-Recession Levels
The state budget picture has been slowly improving in the wake of the national recession. Even so, general fund spending in 29 states is at a lower level now than it was when the economic downturn hit in late 2007, according to a new survey by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers. Despite improving tax collections across much of the country, states still face “a big squeeze” as they try to recover from the recession, according to the survey, which was released Nov. 29. The analysis finds what many other reports about state finances have also found: that weak tax collections, the end of federal stimulus dollars and rising demand for state services, led by Medicaid, have combined to leave states in a difficult fiscal position. —John Gramlich, Stateline.org. Read more.
AGA Today is Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner Becker
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Announcing the new Becker Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Subscription Program.
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For additional information, contact John Gioeli.
Federal News
Fighting the National Debt, Out of Their Own Pockets
Atanacio Garcia isn't waiting for Washington to reduce the national debt. The 84-year-old retired postal worker from San Antonio, a man of simple means and a simple credo, donates $50 a month from his pension, plus whatever he makes from collecting aluminum cans in his neighborhood, to reduce Uncle Sam's IOU. "I'm a believer in our country," said Garcia, an Army veteran who has promised that he will contribute "until the debt is paid off or until I die." Garcia, a father of five who has lived in the same two-bedroom home for decades, is among hundreds of public-spirited Americans who have sent money, from pocket change to million-dollar checks, to the federal Bureau of Public Debt at P.O. Box 2188 in Parkersburg, W.Va. Since President Kennedy signed legislation 50 years ago setting up the little-known program that accepts donations to pay down the debt, about $83 million has been collected, including $2,440.80 from Garcia. —Richard Simon, The Los Angeles Times. Read more.
AGA Research Study: Agencies Must Work Together to Reduce Improper Payments
Agencies are looking for ways to use money wisely. Now, AGA has released a study sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton that comes up with ideas for reducing improper payments. "When we did the study, we obviously focused on doing it just because we knew that with the deficit and shrinking budget that improper payments were going to be increasingly important," said Ashley Skyrme, vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton. She spoke with Tom Temin and Amy Morris of Federal News Radio last Monday about working with AGA and sponsoring its research. While Skyrme acknowledged that many of the recommendations of the study aren't that new, the research does underscore the need for agencies to establish quantifiable targets for reducing improper payments. Also, agencies need to share information with each other to help eliminate improper payments. "Fifty percent of payments that are improper are because it's very difficult to make sure that somebody's eligible to receive the money," Skyrme said. "So, by sharing information around income, being able to validate who the beneficiary is and whether their income is correct and that they deserve that payment, can put a strong dent in the challenge. We really underscore that we want agencies to work together, share information and definitely verify up front before letting the improper payment go out the door." —Michael O'Connell, Federal News Radio. Read more.
AGA Today is Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner Accenture
 Payment and vendor pricing errors can cost 0.10 percent or more of total spending. Organizations around the world rely on the Accenture Improper Payment solution to prevent such costly mistakes. Our solution quickly addresses the Office of Management and Budget’s call to prevent improper payments, taking federal agencies beyond simply reacting and into post-payment recovery. The solution proactively prevents overpayments, inaccurate payments and lost funding with advanced analytics before payments are made.
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Private Sector News
Private Sector Jobs Soar, Payrolls Forecasts Rise
Companies created the most jobs in nearly a year in November, adding to cautious optimism that the country's battered labor market is working its way toward healing. Better-than-expected housing and regional factory data released on Wednesday reinforced the view that the economy should avoid recession, though growth is unlikely to be brisk."All of this confirms the economy, after slowing in the late spring and early summer, is back firmly at its 2 (percent) to 2.5 percent growth rate," said Steve Blitz, senior economist at ITG Investment Research in New York. Even so, Blitz added, "Firstly, I need to temper the enthusiasm that these numbers indicate that economic growth is accelerating, and secondly, it's still a very dangerous world out there." —Reuters. Read more.
AGA Today is Brought to You by Federal Publications Seminar
 Learn pricing techniques you can apply immediately through an essential course, Cost and Price Analysis in Government Contracts, from Federal Publications Seminars. AGA members get 40% off any of our courses, taught by the field's foremost authorities. Register by December 31, 2011 to qualify. Learn more at http://fedpubseminars.com/promotion/AGA.
Accounting Standards News
AGA Past National President Sam McCall Appointed to FASAB
 The chair of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB), Tom Allen, announced Wednesday that AGA Past National President Sam M. McCall, Ph.D., CGFM, CPA, CIA, CGAP, has been appointed to a five-year term as a member of the board beginning Jan. 1, 2012. McCall’s term begins upon the completion of Norwood "Woody" Jackson’s term.
An appointments panel―composed of three federal members, the FASAB chairman, two individuals representing the American Institute of CPAs, and one individual representing the Financial Accounting Foundation―advises the FASAB sponsors on appointments and re-appointments for the six nonfederal members of the board. The sponsors—Timothy F. Geithner, the Secretary of the Treasury; Jacob J. Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget; and Gene L. Dodaro, CGFM, the Comptroller General of the United States—make the final appointments.
Allen noted that he "expects Mr. McCall will bring a unique perspective to the board in light of his substantial experience in state and local government and his focus on performance reporting by governments. His active promotion of citizen centric reporting — both during his tenure as the president of AGA and as a local government official — bodes well for users of federal financial statements.
McCall has more than 40 years experience in governmental auditing. He served as deputy state auditor for the state of Florida and is presently the city auditor in Tallahassee, FL.
Federal Financial Systems Summit—FREE* One-Day Event for Government Executives
AGA is hosting a one-day event that brings together federal financial managers and private sector executives for the second year to discuss federal financial systems. The summit, set for 8:30 a.m. Jan. 10 at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center, will focus on the current state of federal financial management systems initiatives and implementations, as well as the next generation of financial management systems. Speakers will discuss lessons learned, economics, and benefits of migrating to and integrating with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS, shared services) and Software as a Service (SaaS) models. Learn more about the agenda.
* Government executives can register FREE.
AGA Corporate Partners are invited to participate through sponsorships. Please contact Susan Fritzlen for more information.
AGA Government Finance Case Challenge Finalists Announced
AGA would like to congratulate all of our participating teams on an outstanding job creating a Citizen-Centric Report for the City of Alexandria, VA. The following teams are invited to participate in the final competition in February: Old Dominion University, the University of Guam and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Stay tuned for more information about the finals.
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 Marie Force.
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