Highlights
CPE
Opportunities
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for a Job?
Emerging Issues at FASAB, GASB
Subject of Audio Conference
AGA, in conjunction with the National
Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers (NASACT) and
the National Association of Logal Government Auditors (ALGA), is
sponsoring an Aug. 2 audio conference. Worth 2 CPE hours, the subject
is, "Accounting Concepts and Emerging Issues at the FASAB and
GASB." Speakers are David Mosso, who will be
concluding his 10-year term as chairperson of FASAB at the end of 2006,
Tom Allen, former chairperson of the Governmental
Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and Mosso’s planned successor
at FASAB, and Robert Attmore, current chairperson at
GASB.
Join us from 2 – 3:50 p.m. EDT
Aug. 2. Cost is $249 per site if you register on or before
Friday, July 28, 2006 and $299 thereafter. Register online.
Chapters, Agencies Can Save with
Discounted Education Plan
AGA is pleased to again announce a
special offer exclusively for AGA
chapters and ADVANTAGE group
membership agencies that will enhance your
chapter's and agency's education program and save you money!
For a limited time only, purchase three, four or five AGA audio
conferences
as a package and you will receive a 10 percent discount on the
early-bird
price offered by the AGA. Purchase six or all seven AGA audio
conferences
for a 15 percent discount. Read the schedule.
This offer is only available to AGA chapters
and ADVANTAGE group membership
partners until July 28.
Contact Maria Lucas at
800.AGA.7211, ext. 308, or mlucas@agacgfm.org to register. Download the registration form.
If you have any questions about any of the
audio conferences, contact Raymond Harris,
CGFM, Director of Chapter Operations, at 800.AGA.7211,
ext. 339, or
rharris@agacgfm.org.
Correction to Article in Summer 2006 Journal
The Summer 2006 issue of Journal of Government Financial Management
includes an article titled, “Hurricanes, Tornadoes and Other
Disasters: Reporting Their Effect Applying GASB 42.” A correction
needs to be made to a statement on page 53 of that article. An
impairment loss should not be reported net of Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants. Question 7.469 of the
Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s Comprehensive
Implementation Guide—2005 explains that FEMA grant revenue
should be reported as program revenue and should not be netted against
any associated impairment loss because such grants are not like
insurance. “With FEMA grants, funds are provided after the
impairment event occurs only if a government applies for and meets the
applicable grant requirements. The [grant] award constitutes a separate
transaction from the impairment event." |
July
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
AGA’s FMSB Weighs in on Two
Separate Proposals
AGA’s Financial Management
Standards Board (FMSB) has commented on the Federal Accounting
Standards Advisory Board’s (FASAB) proposed guidance on
asbestos-related cleanup costs, Technical Bulletin 2006-1,
Recognition and Measurement of Asbestos-Related Cleanup
Costs. The proposed guidance is on accounting for nonfriable
as well as friable asbestos-related cleanup costs. The intent of
the guidance is to remove uncertainty and encourage consistency in
practice across the federal government regarding the estimation of a
liability for nonfriable asbestos-related cleanup costs. Read the entire letter.
The second comment letter was sent to the International
Federation of Accountants International Public Sector Accounting
Standards Board on ED 29, Accounting for Revenues from Non-Exchange
Transactions (Including Taxes and Transfers). The board stated
that the document was understandable and stated the issues clearly, and
that members agreed with the proposed guidance. Read
the entire letter.
Treasury's Money Man In the Terror
Fight
Last summer, Stuart A. Levey, the
Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial
intelligence, was about to depart Libya for Turkey when his travel
plans abruptly came to a halt. At the airport, Libyan officials
directed Levey to an aircraft idling on the runway. Aboard, Levey and
his aides found themselves inside the private plane of Moammar Gaddafi
surrounded by what one official described as an "homage to Austin
Powers." Outfitted with shag carpeting, gold-plated safety belts
and wide, white leather seats, the plane took off on an unscheduled
flight from Tripoli to the coastal town of Sert. An hour later, Levey's
team was in black sedans speeding across miles of empty desert toward
Gaddafi's man-made oasis. "It was like being in some kind of James
Bond movie," Levey said, recalling his assessment of whether Libya
should be taken off the list of states that sponsor terrorism. Levey is
not the first head of the Treasury Department's unusual intelligence
branch, but he is the most influential. At 43, the Harvard Law School
graduate has a strong hand in many of President Bush's top foreign
policy and national security initiatives, from counterterrorism to
money laundering to weapons of mass destruction. He is the senior
Treasury official overseeing a classified program that taps a global
database of confidential financial records in search of terrorist
transactions. — Dafna Linzer, The Washington Post. Read the entire article.
AGA Today is Brought to You by The IIA
Announcing The IIA’s New Public
Sector Seminars
Now there is audit training designed especially for
auditors in the public sector at a price that will fit almost any
budget. The Institute of Internal Auditors is world renowned for
providing quality training programs provide you with the latest audit
tools and expertise. Learn how
the IIA can help you take your career to the next level.
CFOs Discuss Financial Management
Initiatives in 2006 Survey
 AGA Corporate Partner Grant Thornton has completed its
annual CFO Survey, “Advancing Federal Financial Management:
Measures, Systems and Shared Service Centers.” This year, CFOs
were asked about progress toward meeting financial improvement goals,
including the President’s Management Agenda and the Lines of
Business initiative, which are both managed by the U.S. Office of
Management and Budget. Most survey participants support the financial
management goals, but many are concerned about details of migrating
agency- and department-level functions to shared services arrangements
called Shared Service Centers. The report said, “Most of the
improvement initiatives to date have focused on the infrastructure and
basic processes of financial management. Many federal financial leaders
want to get beyond this stage of development and focus on how financial
management can better contribute to achieving agency missions.”
Read
the report.
Access the questionnaire.
Federal Accounting
Corner
Budgeting without Budgetary
Accounts
Mitch Laine, in his article on financial
management reform in AGA's Summer 2005 Journal of Government
Financial Management, proposed eliminating all budgetary accounts.
These past few months, I've run a series of columns in AGA's
Washington, D.C. Chapter newsletter describing a proprietary-only
posting model. (Read the series, which will end with the October issue,
on the Washington, D.C. Chapter
website.) This column will summarize the model and the lessons
learned. —Simcha Kuritzky, CGFM, CPA
AGA Today is Brought to You by the
University of Alabama in Huntsville
 Cost Accounting Standards and Financial
Management of Government Contracts—course begins Aug.
10.
Understand how "cash flow" affects the profitability of
a contract. Learn about government funding, incentive and option
structures, the invoicing process, methods of improving cash flow on
government contracts, and cost reporting as well as CAS and non-CAS
accounting standards, proposal preparation and evaluation techniques,
and the DCAA audit in this course provided through eTraining Solutions,
Distance Learning from the University of Alabama in Huntsville
Continuing Education.
For detailed information on this course and other Federal
Contract Management courses, visit www.e-trainingsolutions.net or e-mail ann@e-trainingsolutions.net
Family, Friends Honor Slain Federal
Agent
If William "Buddy" Sentner
could have commented on his somber funeral, he would have been able to
make his mourners smile. "No matter how bad it was, he could make
it funny," said Ron Green, a U.S. Secret Service agent who became
close to Sentner when the two worked together in Phoenix. Sentner, 44,
later went on to work for the Justice Department's Inspector General's
Office. He died June 21 in a shootout with a prison guard he and other
investigators were trying to arrest in a sex-for-contraband case at the
Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee. He was the first
special agent from the office to be killed or wounded in the line of
duty. —April Hunt, The Orlando Sentinel. Read the
entire article.
States Facing
‘Unmanageable’ Retiree Health Care Liabilities
A new accounting standard has
states and local governments worried about their ability to borrow
money, while employees fear their benefits may be cut. The reason for
worry is a 2004 accounting standard by the Governmental Accounting
Standards Board (GASB), known as GASB 45. Starting in December,
states will be required to account for the cost of health care
benefits for retiring public workers. States are not required to set
aside money to cover the liabilities, but failure to do so could hurt
the states’ credit ratings and therefore make borrowing more
costly, Stateline.org reported. —AccountingWEB.com. Read the
entire article.
BearingPoint wins Calif. Payroll
Modernization Deal
BearingPoint Inc. will implement a new
payroll and personnel system for California under a $69 million
contract awarded by the state Controller’s Office. BearingPoint
of McLean, VA, will work with SAP Public Services of Washington to
implement the initiative the state has dubbed the “21st Century
Project.” The goal is to replace a 30-year-old system with a
state-of-the-art one. SAP will furnish software, maintenance and
training for state employees to run the software, while BearingPoint
will adapt SAP’s software and implement it among the
state’s various agencies. Controller Steve Westly said the state
would be hard pressed to find technicians capable of fixing the
existing system during a major breakdown. “This project is not
just about embracing new technology,” he said, “It’s
about getting rid of old technology that could disrupt state
government.” — William Welsh, Washington
Technology. Read the entire article.
GAO Issues Exposure Draft of
2006 Yellow Book Revision
The Government Accountability
Office (GAO) has issued an exposure draft of proposed changes to
Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), commonly known as the
"Yellow Book." The overall focus of the proposed 2006 revised
standards includes an increased emphasis on audit quality and ethics
and an extensive update of the performance audit standards to include a
specified level of assurance within the context of risk and
materiality. In addition, this proposed revision modernizes GAGAS, with
updates to reflect major developments in the accountability and audit
environment. Finally, clarifications have been made throughout the
standards. The draft of the proposed changes are available only in electronic format. Send
comments to yellowbook@gao.gov
by August 15, 2006. For additional information, call Michael Hrapsky,
senior project manager, Financial Management and Assurance, at
202.512.9535, or Jeanette Franzel, director, at
202.512.9471.
Producing a Performance and
Accountability Report?
AGA is hosting its annual workshop,
"Preparing your FY06 Performance and Accountability Report"
on Friday, Aug. 4, 2006, in Washington, D.C., from 9 a.m. - noon at the
U.S. Department of Education on Maryland Avenue SE. This training will
provide you with the tools needed to improve your Performance and
Accountability Report (PAR) and also introduce you to the new
guidelines to follow when submitting your PAR to AGA's Certificate of
Excellence in Accountability Reporting Program (CEAR). Costs are
minimal and three hours of CPE is also available. Your agency is
required to produce have a PAR; why not get recognition by receiving
its highest award? Learn more about the
CEAR Program and register for the workshop online. For questions
about registering contact Julie
Cupp. For information about AGA's CEAR Program, contact Evie Barry, Director of Performance
Reporting.
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. |
