Save Time…Renew Your AGA Membership Online in 2005
Annual renewal time is upon us. Membership and CGFM renewal packages were mailed in early February and are due to be paid by March 31, 2005. To renew online, access the website, click on ‘Members Only’ on the left menu. Login using your membership ID number and password (your first initial followed by your last name – no spaces), then click on the ‘Billing’ button at the top right hand corner of the screen. Your renewal fees will automatically appear. Input your credit card information and hit ‘Submit.’ While you are logged in, take a moment to update your contact information. Questions? Contact the AGA Customer Satisfaction Center.

April 1 Deadline for Academic Scholarshp Applications
Are you or a family member pursuing undergraduate or graduate studies in disciplines such as accounting, auditing, budgeting, economics, finance, information technology, public administration, etc.? If so, consider applying for an AGA National Academic Scholarship today. Each year, AGA awards up to six $1,000 full-time merit scholarships to AGA members and their family members; up to two $500 part-time merit scholarships to AGA members and their family members; and up to one $1,000 community service scholarship. The deadline for receipt of applications is April 1, 2005. For more information click here or contact Rosanna Ortiz.

PDC 2005 Registration Now Open
Join us in sunny Orlando for the government financial management education event of the year! AGA invites you to attend its 54th Annual Professional Development Conference & Exposition, to be held July 10 – 13, 2005, in Orlando, FL. PDC 2005 promises to be an excellent learning and networking opportunity for government financial managers and accountability professionals. Education sessions will provide technical training, useful information on emerging trends, tools to help you become more effective and lessons from the best in the business. In addition to an outstanding technical program, we have arranged a number of social events to ensure an exceptional conference experience. You can register online or print the registration form to register by fax or mail. Advance registration discounts apply to all forms received before June 10, 2005. Click here to register.

Submit Your Chapter Newsletters for AGA's Annual Contest
It is time once again for the annual Chapter Newsletter Editor Contest! This competition is designed to bring recognition to chapters producing the best newsletters in each chapter group. A first-place winner and an honorable mention winner will be awarded in each chapter group for both print and electronic newsletters. Chapters may enter EITHER the print or electronic contest, not both. Submissions are due April 15, 2005. Information about the website competition will be e-mailed to all chapters on March 28. Website judging begins on April 18. Click here for more details.

FMSB Says GASB Proposal 'Fills a Need'

JFMIP Says Quiet Goodbye
At the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program's (JFMIP) last annual conference March 10, financial management leaders pushed new ways of measuring—and controlling—government spending. JFMIP, which has certified and tested financial systems since 1950, will soon cease to exist. Most of the organization's duties, formerly shared among the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), will come under control of OMB. More than 1,000 people attended the meeting, where financial leaders spoke about their concern for the state of the economy, worrisome demographic trends, and the future of financial regulation and reform. For example, David M. Walker, Comptroller General and JFMIP principal, urged the audience of financial managers to create more readable financial information, sharpen f! inancial accounting and reporting procedures, and develop new ways of measuring the costs of programs. "Companies can go down. Countries must not," he said. Many familiar with federal financial management consider JFMIP an emblem of objectivity and high standards, and some expressed concern that the shift to OMB will affect financial systems testing and certification. "From my perspective, getting rid of JFMIP is a mistake," said Pete Smith, president of the Private Sector Council. "A lot of money invested in [financial management] was misspent, and JFMIP had a lot to do with getting that under control," he added. The big benefit of JFMIP, he said, is that it is isolated from political and budget issues. At OMB, that will no longer be the case. "It's harder for them to do an independent look at the technology," he said. "At JFMIP, there was no politics in the meeting." —Kimberly Palmer, Government Executive. Click here to read the entire article.

Medicare Drug Plan a Headache for States
As legislatures draw up next year's budgets, worries are building that states will have to send more money than expected to Washington, D.C. to help launch the first-ever federal prescription drug program for seniors. Under the 2003 law, Washington agreed to pick up most of the tab for prescriptions for some 7 million poor seniors whose drugs already were covered by states. But as states hammer out fiscal 2006 budgets that begin July 1, 2005, they have no way of knowing exactly how much money the new federal Medicare prescription drug benefit that begins January 2006 will save—or cost—them. And it's not just the uncertainty that rankles states. Many expect the Medicare drug plan to cost states more than they had been paying for prescriptions for poor seniors who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, known as "dual eligibles." —Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org. Read the entire article at http://www.stat! eline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=18858

OMB Pushes Measurement of Contract Costs, Performance
Government contracts are about to involve a lot more math. In the next few weeks, OMB is expected to publish a proposed rule in the Federal Register that will specify when agencies are required to use earned value management, a method of checking performance against expectations and cost. The federal acquisition world has given the method increased attention lately, largely because OMB has been focusing on performance measures in contracts. The proposed rule, which will include a 60-day comment period, will standardize the earned value management process, according to an OMB official. Agencies are currently required to use earned value management in large contracts for developmental projects, and OMB rates how well they use the tool in the President's Management Agenda score card. —Kimberly Palmer, Government Executive. Click here to read the entire article.

Push is on to Require Finance Education in High Schools
Hoping to stem the future tide of overwhelming credit card debt, personal bankruptcies and foreclosures, seven states are now requiring high school students take a personal finance class, the Associated Press reported. A survey by the National Council on Economic Education found that the seven states require the basic finance course as a prerequisite for graduation, which is up from four states in 2002. The seven states are Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, New York and Utah. "There is more good economic and financial education being offered in schools than ever," said Robert Duvall, president of the national council, which released its findings during an economic literacy summit. "But as a subject area, it continues to be marginalized as an add-on in an already crowded curriculum. We need to keep pushing to make it part of the core." Without this foundation of finance education offered early, young adults often fi! nd themselves with more than just a checkbook that won't balance. Lack of understanding can lead to bankruptcies, home foreclosures and financial stresses that divide families, experts say. —AccountingWEB. Click here to read the entire article.

Unions, Senator Critize New Defense Pay System
A senior Democratic senator sharply criticized Pentagon officials Tuesday for their compensation policies and said that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) civilian employees have little reason to believe that the new National Security Personnel System (NSPS) will be any more even-handed. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked Defense officials why they gave 2.5 percent pay raises to political appointees in 2005, but only a 2 percent increase to members of the Senior Executive Service. Levin said the Pentagon action directly conflicts with a congressional mandate to ensure equity for pay adjustments in the political and career employee pools. "Why does that engender confidence?" Levin asked during a hearing of the Senate subcommittee hearing. "You are proposing a system that is based on an important premise," Levin said. "You are not following that premise right now." Meanwhile, a coalition of 36 unions representing DoD employees filed a 137-page obje! ction to the NSPS. The United Department of Defense Workers Coalition said the Pentagon's plan was "unacceptably flawed" and rejected the proposed regulation "in its entirety." Defense unions have mounted an aggressive campaign against the NSPS, including demonstrations at some military bases and appeals to union members to speak out against the proposed regulation. — David McGlinchey, Government Executive, and Stephen Barr, The Washington Post. Click here and here to read more.

Study: No Tie Between CEO Pay and Company Success
What do Disney, AT&T, Exxon and Verizon have in common? Based on economic performance and what they paid their CEOs from 1991 to 2002, a new academic study argues that all these firms were headed by CEOs who were paid too much. These firms are among a group of companies headed by CEOs whose pay is negatively related to job skill: The CEOs seem to be rewarded—in most cases, quite amply—for their bad performance, the study said. Disney's Michael Eisner, for example, was paid $38 million above the industry average when for three out of six years the company's performance actually declined in relation to other firms in the entertainment industry. The study, which reviewed CEO pay and economic performance between 1991 and 2002, found that in small firms, highly paid CEOs generally are more skilled than their industry counterparts. Conversely, pay is more likely to be negatively related to skill in larger firms. "In many large firms, the highest paid exe! cutives actually performed the worst," said coauthor Robert Daines, who is Pritzker Professor of Law and Business at Stanford Law School and Professor of Finance by courtesy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. "Barry Bonds makes a lot of money because he's a great baseball player. In general, the best-paid players are also the most skilled," said Daines. "The main question is: Is the CEO labor market working in the same way? Do you make more money if you are better at it? Or is the market for CEO pay broken, in that CEOs receive high pay for something besides skill—like having friends on the board?" —AccountingWEB. Click here to read the entire article.

Pentagon Audit Questions Halliburton's Costs in Iraq
Pentagon auditors found more than $100 million in questionable costs in one section of a massive, no-bid Halliburton Co. contract for delivering fuel to Iraq, according to a summary of their report released Monday by congressional Democrats. The audit, produced by the Defense Contract Audit Agency, faulted Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. for providing cost data that did not match its accounting records, and for failing to negotiate lower prices for fuel from a Kuwaiti supplier. The audit also described as "illogical" a case in which KBR reported it had purchased liquefied gas for $82,100, and then spent $27.5 million to transport it. The audit summary, written in October 2004 but withheld from public release, covers one out of 10 sections from a $2.5 billion contract.  Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI) and Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), who made a summary of the fuel audit public, called on President Bush to release audits for the other nine sec! tions of Halliburton's no-bid contract. "The Administration has withheld these audits from Congress for months, and Halliburton has repaid nothing under this contract," they wrote. "We would like to know when and how you plan to recover the overcharges from Halliburton and restore them to U.S. taxpayers and the Iraqi people." —Griff Witte, The Washington Post. Click here to read the entire article.

FASAB Seeks Assistant Director
The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) is seeking a an assistant director to take responsibility for a major technical project under consideration by FASAB. This requires research on concepts and standards adopted in the federal sector and by other standards-setters; oral presentations before the FASAB and responses to member queries; and strong writing skills. In addition, assistant directors often consult with fellow staff members on other major projects, work with the community on implementation guidance for existing standards, and make presentations at conferences. The position is a Band III (equivalent to GS-15) within a banded performance-based compensation system. FASAB receives administrative support from GAO, which handles recruitment and compensation. To apply for the position, click here. The announcement numbers are FASAB-N-2005-0510-59 for nonstatus candidates, or those without curr! ent or former federal service, and FASAB-S-2005-0510-59, for those with current or former federal service. Detailed information about FASAB is available on the website. To see a sample of staff work, click on "meetings" on the left to read briefing materials and minutes from past meetings. For additional questions, call the Employment and Recruitment office at 202.512.4900.

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Advertise in AGA's electronic newsletters—TOPICS and AGA Today! Get maximum exposure and build your brand. Click here for all the information you need to run your ad! Or, you can contact AGA's Director of Communications, Marie Force.