Highlights
CPE
Opportunities
Looking
for a Job?
See You
in San Diego!
Make plans now to attend AGA’s
55th Annual Professional Development Conference & Exposition (PDC).
With the theme “Navigating the Way to Citizen-Centered
Government,” the PDC promises to be an excellent learning and
networking opportunity for government financial managers and
accountability professionals.
Education sessions will provide technical training, emerging trend
snapshots and leadership secrets from the best in the business.
Register today and secure your place at the government financial
management education event of the year!
• Register online
• Print
registration form to send by fax/mail (Adobe PDF)
• Visit
the conference website
Audio Conference Set on AICPA Audit
Standards
National Association of State Auditors,
Comptrollers and Treasurers (NASACT), in conjunction with AGA and the
National Association of Local Government Auditors (NALGA), is pleased
to announce the latest in its series of audio conferences addressing
timely issues in government financial management. The topic for this
audio conference,"AICPA’s New Audit Standards," will
cover recent revisions to the AICPA’s Statements on Auditing
Standards, including the soon-to-be released audit risk standards. Join
Frank Crawford, CPA, Crawford & Associates, P.C.,
for an enlightening two-hour discussion of these standards. You will
also be given an opportunity to ask questions and share experiences
during the last 25 minutes of the audio conference.
Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Time: 2 - 3:50 p.m., EDT
CPE Hours: 2
Cost: $299 per site (unlimited attendance) if
you register on or before April 14, and $299
afterward.
Register online
or if you have questions, call NASACT at 859.276.1147 or send an e-mail.
May 10 Audio Conference Set
AGA, in conjunction with NASACT and NALGA, is offering a
new audio conference, “Performance Auditing: Planning, Conducting
and Reporting Results in Today’s Environment.” The audio
conference, worth 2 CPE hours, is set for 2 - 3:50 p.m. EDT May 10.
Speakers are Drummond Kahn, Director of Audit
Services, City of Portland, OR; Jerry Barber,
Assistant Comptroller, New York State Office of the State Comptroller;
and Pam Tumler, Senior Analyst, U.S. Government
Accountability Office, Denver, CO.
Cost is $249 per site (unlimited attendance) if you register on
or before May 5, 2006, and $299 afterward. Register online.
If you have any questions regarding
registration, please contact Maria
Lucas Questions regarding the program content should be directed
to Raymond Harris.
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April 10, 2006
• 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
Vermont
Leads
States in Taxes Per Person
Vermont rocketed past five other
states during last fiscal year to become the state with the highest tax
burden per resident, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report.
In every state except New Hampshire, revenues per resident grew in
fiscal year 2005. In fact, collections increased by an average of 9.7
percent across the country, which translated into $57 billion more in
state coffers. On average, states charged each of their residents
$2,192, mostly from income and sales taxes. The states that collected
the most per person were Vermont ($3,600.16), Hawaii, Wyoming,
Connecticut and Delaware. South Dakota ($1,430.46) replaced Texas this
year as the state with the lowest tax bills. But Texas still claimed
the second-lowest burden, followed by New Hampshire, Colorado and
Missouri. The Census data showcases the sunny financial situation
states faced during the last fiscal year. It was a welcome break in the
clouds for the states, which had endured the worst economic downturn
since the Great Depression at the beginning of the decade. —
Daniel C. Vock, Stateline.org. Read the entire article.
Agencies Are
Increasingly Offering Buyouts, GAO Report Finds
Buyouts are back. Since November 2002, 51 federal
agencies—about half of the executive branch—have offered
cash buyouts and early retirements to reshape their workforces,
according to a recently released report from congressional auditors.
The findings confirm what many federal employees have
suspected—that buyout offers have been increasing in recent
years. The report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) counted
at least 22,600 employees who left the government after accepting a
buyout, early-out or combined package during fiscal years 2003 through
2005. —Stephen Barr, The Washington Post. Read the entire article.
Texas Governor Says
Federal Disaster Plan is Flawed
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has attacked a
proposed change to the White House's federal disaster response plan,
saying a modification allowing the military to intervene without local
consent would endanger human life. Flanked by U.S. Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., and Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, Perry said last Monday
that the federal government should not have the power to assume primary
control of response by firefighters, police officers and emergency
personnel during catastrophes such as hurricanes. The recommendation
was among more than 100 made in the report "The Federal Response
to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned," released at the end of
February. Although Perry welcomed some of the
recommendations—such as improving communications between federal
and local officials during disasters—he said other
recommendations took the wrong approach. "I'm greatly concerned
that others would place too much authority in the hands of the federal
bureaucrats and force state and local officials to stand idly by while
the lives of their citizens hang in the balance," he said.
"Let me be clear: If the federal government assumes control of
first response to catastrophes, I believe it will add needless layers
of bureaucracy, create indecisiveness, lead to rampant
miscommunications and ultimately cost lives.” —Eric Berger,
The Houston Chronicle. Read the entire article.
AGA Today is Brought to You by the Foundation for
Accounting Education
 The
Government and Public School Audit Conference: Safeguarding the Public
Trust Conference
If you are a practitioner with public authorities, school
districts or other governmental entities as clients, you cannot afford
to miss this important conference. The enactment of major new
legislation will change the way that you do business. Understanding
these new rules is vital to ensure that you can perform your work with
competence, integrity, and objectivity. The May conference combines the
statutory requirements, regulatory issues, and standards essential in
the effective auditing of governmental entities. <'span>Register today.
Most States Send Human Services Tech
Support Offshore
Most states offshore at least a portion
of the IT work needed to operate federal human services programs for
food stamps, child support enforcement, family assistance programs and
unemployment insurance, according to a new GAO report. The GAO found
that “some work is performed offshore in the majority of
states” for the four state-administered federal aid programs it
reviewed—child support enforcement, food stamps, temporary
assistance for needy families and unemployment insurance. Offshoring
occurred in one or more programs in 43 of 50 states and the District of
Columbia, most frequently in the food stamp and temporary assistance
programs, the GAO said. Offshoring IT work for federal programs has
been politically controversial in Congress, due to the perception of
contributing to American economic and job losses and to privacy
concerns. —Alice Lipowicz, Washington Technology. Read the entire article.
Many of America’s Best CFOs
Started in Accounting or Auditing
Institutional Investor magazine has
completed its third annual “America’s best CFOs”
ranking. Brokerage firm research analysts and portfolio managers were
asked to name the Best American CFOs across 62 industries. The voting
criteria started at keeping clean books and communicating effectively
with the market and ascended to going beyond traditional
number-crunching, cost-controlling roles, improving operations, driving
revenue growth, and executing big acquisitions. Several of the CFOS on
this year’s list started in the accounting or auditing world.
—AccountingWEB. Read the
entire article.
AGA Today is Brought to You by Data
Management Group
 Free White Paper—Establishing the
connection between detailed daily activities, desired high-level
outcomes, and budgets is one of the biggest challenges facing
management in the public sector today. Read about strategy management
in the public sector. Call Data Management Group for assistance
in bringing your Budget and Performance Integration goals
in line with the GRPA and the President's Management Agenda. Call
888.394.1664 or visit us online at datamanagementgroup.com.
Top Programs Picked for Innovations in
Government Awards
The Ash Institute for Democratic
Governance and Innovation at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy
School of Government—in cooperation with the Council for
Excellence in Government—has announced the Top 50 Government
Innovations for 2006. The successful programs range from a U.S.
Military Academy video game to a pollution prevention program in Hawaii
. . . from an on-line job matching service in Texas to a
vehicle-sharing program in Philadelphia . . . and from an economic
development strategy for Native American tribes to a special reading
program for juvenile offenders in Wisconsin. Read
about the most innovative, creative and results-oriented efforts in
government today. These public sector programs are now
semifinalists for the Innovations in American Government Awards and are
eligible to win one of seven $100,000 grants.
Comment Deadline Near for Pollution
Remediation Proposal
 AGA
members are encouraged to read and respond to the Governmental
Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Exposure Draft (ED), Accounting and
Financial Reporting for Pollution Remediation Obligations. The deadline
for public comment is May 1. The ED can be downloaded free of charge
from the GASB website. The ED
proposes new standards that would identify five events—such as
being named in a lawsuit related to pollution or imminent public danger
posed by pollution—that would require a government to consider
whether it should report liabilities and expenses or expenditures
related to the cleaning up of the pollution. The ED also proposes a
probability-weighted approach—the expected cash flow
technique—for measuring the liability. The proposed standards
were first released for public comment as a Preliminary Views document
in 2005. The ED incorporates changes based on the comments received
from the public in response to that document.
Interested in the CGFM
Certification?
Sign up for AGA's special Intensive
Review Course and take the CGFM Examinations in June in San Diego. Don't miss this
opportunity to earn your CGFM!
AGA
Advertising Opportunities!
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. |
