Highlights
CPE Opportunities
Audio Conference Set for Wednesday: Homeland Security Grants and Audit Coordination
Thousands of participants from hundreds of government agencies, private
firms and colleges have been tuning into AGA’s audio conference series this year. Don’t miss out as AGA, NASACT and N.A.L.G.A. present this audio
conference from 2 – 3:50 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 3. Expert speakers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and a State Auditors' Office will discuss homeland security grants and how they approached auditing them. Earn 2 CPE hours in the area of accounting and auditing. The cost is $299 for unlimited attendance. Questions regarding the program should be directed to Raymond Harris, CGFM. Click here to view the 2005-2006 audio conference schedule.
AGA Sets Preliminary Agenda for First National Performance Management Conference
The conference is set for Nov. 14-15 at the Portland Marriott Downtown in Portland, OR. The theme is, "Service Efforts & Accomplishments Reporting: The Cornerstone for Building Trust and Enhancing Managment." Government entities that have participated in AGA's Certificate of Excellence in SEA Reporting Program will explain how the reports were prepared and how government performance can be measured. The preliminary agenda is now available online. Click here to register. Contact Julie V. Bryant, CGFM, for more information.
Studying for the CGFM Examinations?
Study guides for all three CGFM Examinations are now available. Click here to learn more.
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. |
August 1, 2005 • 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
'Extreme Hiring Makeover' Gives Federal Hiring a Facelift
Three federal agencies recently revealed the results of a 10-month "Extreme Hiring Makeover" to improve the way they recruit and hire skilled employees, demonstrating how the project helped them streamline their hiring and improve the caliber of their job candidates. Last September, the Partnership for Public Service and a team of leading recruitment experts launched the Extreme Hiring Makeover at three pilot agencies: the U.S. Department of Education; the National Nuclear Security Administration (U.S. Department of Energy), and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). While the makeover showed how federal agencies can make change happen, the project also highlighted the obstacles facing agencies as they try to sustain the improvements they made. Click here to learn more. —Partnership for Public Service.
N.J. Taxpayers Face $383 Million Pension Bill
Pension costs for municipal workers, police and firefighters have more than doubled this year, leaving local taxpayers facing a bill of $383 million in budgets that will be drawn up early next year. "Quite frankly, they took my breath away," Bill Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, said of the new pension costs. "These are astronomical increases." State Treasury officials said the new pension bills—an increase of $208 million over the amount local taxpayers had to pay this year—would have been far higher except for a policy of phasing in the retirement costs over five years. For local government officials, the pension bills are a relatively new entry on their balance sheets. Before this year, local governments had gone six years without having to pay anything toward their employees' retirement programs. Instead, state financing maneuvers and a soaring stock market had generated surpluses that offset the need for new contributions. But that changed dramatically with the collapse of the stock market in 2002. State Treasurer John McCormac, CGFM, told lawmakers during budget hearings this spring that the state and local retirement systems are now underfunded by as much as $35 billion—a deficit that must be made up by investment gains or contributions over the next three decades. —Dunstan McNichol, The Star-Ledger. Click here to read the entire article.
Labor 'Gets to Green' in Bush's Management Agenda
Of 26 major agencies tracked by a presidential scorecard, the U.S. Department of Labor is the first to garner the highest rating, a green mark, in the five categories deemed priorities by President Bush. Bush officials use a scorecard system to illustrate the importance of management practices that improve federal programs. Agencies are graded on how well they are meeting Bush's goals on personnel management, outsourcing certain functions, financial management, electronic government and performance-based budgeting. The scorecard, issued quarterly, measures progress toward those goals with a traffic-light format: Green is good, yellow indicates that progress appears to have been made, and red is bad. Four years ago, the average agency "was a bright red. The average agency today is yellow," said Clay Johnson III, the keeper of the scorecard and a deputy director at the Office of Management and Budget. The previous scorecard, which tracked agency progress through March 31, showed that the departments of Labor, Energy and State were in a race to get to green first. Johnson said the Department of Labor "is a good example of what it takes to be successful on all management fronts. The top people in the agency are committed to it." —Stephen Barr, The Washington Post. Click here to read entire article.
Governors Decry New Driver's License Rules
The nation's governors lambasted new driver's license requirements being imposed by the federal government as costly and burdensome, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson became the first to threaten to challenge the law in court for infringing on states' rights. Governors raised objections in a closed-door meeting in Des Moines, Iowa with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff during the final day of the National Governors Association's annual meeting. Richardson told Stateline.org that the stronger identification verification rules, adopted by Congress May 10 as a national security measure, are costly and intrusive and unconstitutionally trample states' rights. For the first time, a uniform nationwide policy will require at least four forms of identification to obtain a driver’s license, and states will develop and link databases containing drivers’ identities. States must comply in three years or their drivers' licenses no longer will be accepted as valid ID by federal agencies. —Kathleen Hunter, Stateline.org. Click here to read the entire article.
Law Requires Nationwide Lessons on Constitution
It's not often that first-graders, CIA agents, agriculture inspectors and airport security workers from coast to coast all receive a lesson on the same topic—and on the same day—but that is what's in store this September. The subject is the U.S. Constitution, thanks to a new law fathered by Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), who is worried that so many people don't know the first thing about the country's governing document that he decided to try to make sure they do. Tucked into a massive appropriations bill approved without fanfare late last year by Congress is the requirement that every one of the estimated 1.8 million federal employees in the executive branch receive "educational and training" materials about the charter on Constitution Day, a holiday celebrating the Sept. 17, 1787, signing that is so obscure that it, unlike Arbor Day, is left off many calendars. That's not all: The law requires every school that receives federal funds—including universities—to show students a program on the Constitution, though it does not specify a particular one. The demand has proved unpopular with educators, who say that they don't like the federal government telling them what to teach and that it doesn't make the best educational sense to teach something as important as the Constitution out of context. — Valerie Strauss and Lori Aratani, The Washington Post. Click here to read the entire article.
FASAB Seeking Comments on Technical Agenda
The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) is seeking comments on projects to add to its technical agenda. The Invitation to Comment includes descriptions of four potential projects—The Federal Entity, Leases, Conceptual Framework Acceleration and Appropriate Source for GAAP. Respondents are asked to rank the four in order of priority and add other projects they consider important. Responses are requested by Sept. 9. To comment, send an e-mail to comesw@fasab.gov, fax comments to 202.512.7366 or mail them to FASAB at 441 G St., NW, Suite 6814, Washington, D.C. 20548. Click here for more information. —FASAB.
FASAB Issues New Standard on Heritage Assets
FASAB has issued Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) 29, Heritage Assets and Stewardship Land, which reclassifies heritage assets and stewardship land information as basic information, except for condition information, which is classified as required supplementary information. The standard also requires additional reporting disclosures about entity stewardship policies and an explanation of how heritage assets and stewardship land relate to the entity’s mission. The standard is effective for reporting periods after Sept. 30, 2005, although certain reporting requirements are phased in. Click here to read the statement. —FASAB.
 GASB Offers Implementation Guide to Statements 43, 45
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has published a Guide to Implementation of GASB Statements 43 and 45 on Other Postemployment Benefits. The guide (also referred to as “Q&A 43/45”) was prepared to guide preparers and others in implementing GASB’s recently issued standards on accounting and reporting for healthcare and other nonpension benefits provided to retirees. These benefits are commonly referred to as other postemployment benefits, or OPEB. The guide provides the answers to over 250 questions about important topics. It also includes detailed information related to the option provided for certain employers and plans with small plan memberships, allowing them to apply an alternative measurement method to estimate liabilities and expenses associated with their OPEB obligations. The Implementation Guide (product code GQA43/45) can be ordered by calling 800.748.0659 or by visiting GASB’s website. —GASB.
GASB Provides Help Understanding SEA Reports
As governments continue to experiment with service efforts and accomplishments (SEA) performance measures, more and more reports that incorporate those measures are becoming publicly available. GASB has issued a guide to help citizens and other users to better understand those reports. The main feature of the guide is a “user’s tour” of an SEA performance report to help readers understand what they are likely to find in a report, and how to use the information to assess a government’s SEA performance. The guide also provides an overall context for government SEA performance reporting to help readers understand the reasons for reporting on performance and how to use SEA performance information, and where to find more information including performance information available on the Internet from governments cited in the guide. The guide (product code GUG05) can be ordered by calling 800.748.0659 or may be downloaded by clicking here. —GASB.
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