Highlights
CPE
Opportunities
Audio Conference Set
for Sept. 21 on Ethics
AGA, NASACT and N.A.L.G.A. present "Ethics—How It
Impacts an Organization" from 2 – 3:50 p.m. EDT Wednesday,
Sept. 21. Speakers will discuss the increased emphasis on ethics, the
reasons why technology may be contributing to ethical issues, how some
situations can be legal but unethical, how ethics can be a positive
challenge for practical people and a recent KPMG study on corporate
ethics. Speakers are Leon Young, Associate Professor, University of
Maryland, and Scott Avelino, Director of Forensic Services, KPMG LLP.
Earn 2 CPE hours. The cost is $249 before Sept. 16 and $299 afterward
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 is also offering a special package
discount to AGA chapters and Advantage group membership agencies. Click here to learn more.
AGA Releases Executive Session White Paper
At the
recent PDC in Orlando, AGA continued its discussion on some of the
profession's most pressing issues: Human Capital, Education &
Research, Performance Reporting and Citizen-Centric Government. Click
here to read the White Paper generated from this year's session,
which was sponsored by AGA Professional Corporate Partner Grant
Thornton.
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 15, 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
FMSB Provides Additional Info on GASB
PV
AGA’s Financial Management
Standards Board (FMSB) has provided additional comments on a
Preliminary Views document by the Governmental Accounting Standards
Board (GASB). The GASB asked for expanded information after hearing
comments from FMSB member Valerie A. Lindsey at a June public hearing
on Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pollution Remediation
Obligations. To read the GASB’s questions
and FMSB’s responses, click here.
MBA Students Bypassing
Wall Street for a Summer in India
This summer, Omar Maldonado and Erik Simonsen, both students at
the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University, did
something different. Bypassing internship opportunities on Wall Street,
just a subway ride away from their Greenwich Village campus, they went
to India to spend the summer at an outsourcing company in Gurgaon, a
suburb of New Delhi. "The India opportunity grabbed me," said
Maldonado, a Boston native whose family is from the Dominican Republic.
"I wanted to get a global feel for investment banking and not just
a Wall Street perspective." He and Simonsen, both 27, are spending
three months at Copal Partners, an outsourcing firm with 100 analysts.
Maldonado and Simonsen, of Riverside, Calif., are part of a virtual
invasion of India by American students. Graduate students from top
schools in the United States, most from master of business
administration programs, are vying for internships at India's biggest
private companies. For many, outsourcing companies are the destinations
of choice. —Saritha Rai, The New York Times. Click here to read the entire article.
Local Governments Call
for More Mass Transit Security Funds
More federal funding is needed to research and develop
technology
to identify nuclear, chemical or biological weapons on mass transit
systems, according to local transit security officials. Without new
detection systems and sensors, mass transit is virtually defenseless
against an attack involving a weapon of mass destruction, transit
security experts warn. "The federal government needs to
aggressively pursue the research and development of these products,
especially in mass transit where you're moving hundred of thousands of
people," New Jersey Transit Police Chief Joseph Bober told Global
Security Newswire. Concerns over transit security increased following
the terrorist attacks last month against London subway trains and
buses. Bober said New Jersey Transit, which transports more than
760,000 people each day, has been on a heightened state of alert since
the Madrid train bombing in 2004 and stepped up patrols following the
London attacks. —David Francis, Global Security
Newswire. Click here
to read the entire article.
OPM Aims to Upgrade
Recruitment, Training
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management recently awarded two
sets
of contracts aimed at improving the agency's training and recruitment
endeavors. Monster Government Solutions, part of the larger Monster
online career group, will run the government's job Web site,
USAJOBS.gov. Monster also will manage Studentjobs.gov and OPM's career
phone line. Dan DeMaioNewton, USAJOBS' program manager, said that
Monster will redesign the look of both USAJOBS and Studentjobs.gov as
well as give job seekers the ability to search by job title and sort
results by salary, "so they can get to the sweet spot right
away." Another focus for Monster, according to DeMaioNewton, is
enhancing job seekers' ability to know the status of their application.
Monster's improvements "will allow job seekers to go to one
location and see [the status of] all the jobs they've applied to,"
he said. "That's the Holy Grail and that's at the heart of what
this is about." —Karen Rutzick, Government
Executive. Click here to
read the entire article.
Report Outlines
Lessons
of GAO Personnel Reforms
Leaders of the movement to overhaul the government's personnel
system would do well to heed the lessons of the Government
Accountability Office's (GAO) human resources efforts, according to a
new report. The report, from the IBM Center for the Business of
Government, studied GAO's implementation of personnel reforms under
authorities granted by Congress. As far back as 1980, Congress allowed
GAO to establish a performance- and market-based pay system for
employees. In the years following the act, GAO set up a management
review group to establish individual raises. The group considers an
employee's performance appraisal, a self-evaluation, firsthand
knowledge of the employee by the review group members, and the worker's
performance relative to other workers. The employee is then categorized
as exceptional, meritorious, commendable or acceptable in order to
determine pay. — Karen Rutzick, Government Executive. Click here to
read the entire article.
Millions in D.C.
Bioterrorism Grants Not Tracked
The Washington, D.C. Department of Health has failed to properly
track $3.6 million in federal grants awarded since 2002 to prepare
local hospitals for a bioterrorism attack, and nearly half of the money
has gone unspent, a federal audit reported. District health officials
did not upgrade accounting systems to track the funds as required. They
blamed personnel, contracting and budgeting delays for the spending
bottleneck, according to a report released Thursday by the inspector
general's office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Eighteen hospitals that are members of the D.C. Hospital Association
have received $15,000 to $150,000 each under the program, according to
the association. The money is earmarked for 15 priorities, mainly
"surge capacity"—spare hospital beds to handle mass
casualties. However, the capital region has acquired only 444 beds
toward a federal target of 3,000, based on its population of about 6
million people, the association said. In April, a House panel found
that the District, Maryland and Virginia spent only 17 percent of $145
million in U.S. homeland security grants awarded to the capital region
over the past three years, ranking at the bottom of the 50 states.
Authorities blamed an administrative lapse in 2003 and the burden of
coordinating plans among many jurisdictions. —Spencer S. Hsu,
The Washington Post. Click here to read the entire story.
Partnership Aims to
Attract Young People to Federal Service
To raise awareness of public service opportunities and increase
the number of young Americans placed in federal jobs, the Partnership
for Public Service is launching the "Call to Serve"
recruitment initiative, a pilot project with five universities: The
George Washington University, Ohio State University, Stanford
University, University of New Mexico and Clark Atlanta University
(other schools may be added). The pilot will test specific,
cost-effective recruitment methods and evaluate how well they work with
a college audience, helping federal agencies improve their recruiting
activities and increase the flow of information about federal jobs to
faculty, administrators, career services staff and students. Clark
Atlanta University’s motto is “A Culture for
Service.” President Walter D. Broadnax, a past president of the
American Society for Public Administration, said, “This project
presents a tremendous opportunity to expose our students to service
learning while gaining real-world experiences in the federal
government." —Partnership for Public Service. Click here for more information.
 GASB
Improves Website; Offers Speakers for Conferences
The Governmental Accounting
Standards Board (GASB) has added a Project Pages section to its website
to make it easier for anyone seeking detailed information on the status
of technical projects. In addition, GASB describes its speaking
engagement policy and how to request a speaker for a training event. To read the full article, click here.
AGA Career
Opportunity —Director of Education
AGA, the premiere educational
Association
for government accountability professionals, seeks hands-on Director
of Education. Responsibilities include planning, organizing, directing,
implementing and marketing the Association’s education program.
Develop and maintain education policies and procedures to enhance the
Association’s role as a leader in government financial management
training. Assist local chapters with their educational programs. Serve
as liaison to the Academy for Government Accountability Board.
Ideal candidate has knowledge of governmental financial
management and at least three years of experience in managing
professional development programs. Bachelor’s degree. CGFM and/or
CPA preferred. Ability to tackle challenges, organize projects and
produce results.
Work with great team in Del Ray, Alexandria. Competitive
salary/benefits – medical, dental, 401K, flextime and tuition
reimbursement. Send resume to sfritzlen@agacgfm.org.
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