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NLC Early Registration
Rates End Jan. 12
Registering soon for AGA's Fifth Annual National
Leadership Conference will save you $100. After Jan. 12, registration
rates go up, so there is no time to waste. Check out the Registration
Brochure for the conference, set for Feb. 12–13 in Washington,
D.C. The brochure includes a list of the featured speakers, education
sessions and events. You can also get information about registration,
hotel accommodations, travel discounts and more.
Register online
View the brochure
Print the registration form (PDF)
Internal Controls
Subject of Next Audio Conference
The National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and
Treasurers (NASACT), in conjunction with AGA and the Association of
Local Government Auditors, is planning a Jan. 31 audio conference,
"Managing Internal Control with Compliance Technologies."
Speakers are Steve Allison, CGFM, chair of the
Multi-State Consortium on Internal Control of the National Association
of State Comptrollers, Deloitte's Rob Garagiola and
Julia P. Burns, CGFM, director of the Quality
Assurance Bureau of the Massachusettts Office of the Comptroller. Earn
2 CPE hours at the audio conference, set for 2 to 3:50 p.m. Jan.
31.Cost is $249 per site (unlimited atttendance) before Jan. 26, and
$299 afterward. Register today.
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January 8, 2007• News from the Profession
AGA Today is
Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner Clifton Gunderson
 Clifton
Gunderson's DC office is 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
Report: Cities'
Communications Still Lacking
Emergency responders in most cities don't have the equipment and
skills needed to communicate with each other during a crisis, according
to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report. Only six of the 75
cities and regions surveyed received top scores for
"interoperability," or the ability to reliably communicate by
radio. They were Washington, D.C., and its suburbs; San Diego;
Columbus, OH; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Sioux Falls, SD; and Laramie, WY.
Since 2003, Homeland Security has handed out $2.9 billion in grants
for interoperable communications systems, and the department's grant
programs will be heavily focused on communications improvements over
the next two years. —Mimi Hall, USA Today. Read the entire article.
States Think Big on
Health Reform
Massachusetts has accomplished the improbable: It got Democrats
and Republicans to agree on how to provide nearly every resident with
health insurance. And it did so without boosting taxes or pushing aside
private health plans. Spearheaded by outgoing Republican Gov. Mitt
Romney, the compromise marks a marriage of competing visions for health
care reform shaping state policies around the nation. Democrats stress
the need to move toward health coverage for all. Republicans promote
putting consumers in control. What Massachusetts did was to fuse these
philosophies. While Massachusetts is hailed as a trailblazer, even
states with less ambitious goals are setting out to repair the
country’s broken health care system. The changes go beyond
taxpayer-funded Medicaid programs for the poor and disabled. States are
expanding medical coverage for the working uninsured, rewarding
patients who develop healthy habits and prodding private industry to
offer greater health benefits. —Daniel C. Vock,
Stateline.org. Read the entire article.
Defense IG Finds
Major Flaws in Interagency Contracts
A recent U.S. Department of Defense inspector general
investigation into interagency purchases placed through the U.S.
Department of the Treasury's FedSource program uncovered major
problems, including inadequate competition. Every award examined by the
IG was flawed. Other problems included missing contracting agreements,
insufficient price documentation and a lack of market research. Defense
auditors also identified 21 potential violations of the Anti-Deficiency
Act, which bars spending in excess of available resources. Despite
these findings, the IG's
report did not advocate cutting off Defense purchases through
FedSource. Rather, it urged Defense officials to ensure that
acquisition planning is carried out, interagency agreements are signed
and funds are monitored through regular reporting. —Jenny Mandel,
Government Executive. Read the entire article.
Need CPE Hours?
AGA's partnership with MicroMash offers you high-quality courses in
auditing, accounting and more. See the full
listing.
Bush Says Plan Would Balance
Budget by 2012
President Bush has proposed a plan that he insists would, if followed,
achieve a balanced budget by 2012, the most optimistic he has been in
at least five years, and he said the goal could be achieved without
rescinding any of his big tax cuts. In an op-ed article for the
Wednesday issue of the The Wall Street Journal, Bush said his
budget proposal for the 2008 fiscal year would for the first time
project a deficit that disappears. He offered no specifics on how he
intends to achieve a balanced budget, beyond declaring that his tax
cuts had led to economic growth and generated large increases in tax
revenue for the past two years. —Edmund L. Andrews, The New
York Times. Read the entire article.
Voter
Oversight Limits Pension Costs in San Francisco
San Diego flirted with bankruptcy. Orange County, still emerging
from its mid-'90s cash crisis, moved back toward the brink. And in
Fresno County, the grand jury recently declared that public employee
retirement costs have that government "facing insurmountable debt
in the near future." Across California, governments are rattled by
the soaring price of public pensions expanded by politicians at the
bargaining table and gobbling up an increasing share of taxpayer
dollars. But a rare exception has emerged in an unexpected place: San
Francisco. Even as a bulwark of organized labor, the city has kept its
pension costs in check while many others are digging deep into their
general funds to pay for benefits that taxpayers were assured would
cost nothing. Why is San Francisco different? Politicians there can't
give much away; a century-old provision in the City Charter prohibits
it. The only group empowered to enhance government benefits is the
public, which must sign off on changes in the municipal pension plans
at the ballot box. The provision was unique to San Francisco until last
month, when San Diego voters overwhelmingly decided that they too would
like a say in such matters. Now the gospel of voter oversight is
spreading. —Evan Halper, The Los Angeles Times. Read the entire article.
AGA Recognizes
Government Leaders with Prestigious Awards
AGA's National Awards Committee is honored to announce the
recipients of the 2007 Leadership Awards. These awards will be
presented at the Fifth Annual National Leadership Conference, set for
Feb. 12-13 in Washington, D.C. Please join us in extending our warm
congratulations to all of our distinguished recipients.
Nominations Due
for Scantlebury Awards
The U.S. General Services Administration's Financial Systems
Integration Office is soliciting nominations for the Donald L.
Scantlebury Memorial Awards for distinguished leadership in financial
management improvements. The brochure contains the
selection criteria and other instructions concerning this prestigious
award. If you have any questions, please e-mail Doris Chew, CGFM. Nominations are
due by Jan. 12, 2007. The Joint Financial Management Improvement
Program principals will present the awards on March 13.
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