Highlights
CPE
Opportunities
SEA Reviewer Training Set For Dec. 7
An
audio conference, worth 4 CPE hours, will be held 1-5 p.m. Dec. 7. If
it's your job to explain how government funds have been managed to
ensure funding continues, this reviewer training is for you! Funding
for government projects is not automatic. If you have to provide
written justification for why funding should continue, you should
attend this conference, which will teach you an effective way to
explain how government funds have been managed. Contact Julie Bryant, CGFM, for more
information.
Register Now for Dec. 7
Identity Theft Audio Conference
AGA, in
conjunction with NASACT and N.A.L.G.A., will host an audio conference
on identity theft, one of the fastest growing crimes in the U.S.
Speakers are Kathy Buller, Chief
Counsel to the Inspector General, U.S. Social Security Administration;
Naomi Lefkovitz, Attorney, Federal Trade Commission; and Alice
Robinson-Bond, Deputy Attorney General, State of Ohio. The session runs
from 2 – 3:50 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and
offers 2 CPE hours. Click here for information!
NASACT, in conjunction with AGA and
N.A.L.G.A., is offering a new audio conference on Nov. 30, on
Payroll—What You Need to Know for Year-End. Click here to find
out more.
Register
Today for AGA's NLC
Make plans now to attend AGA’s
National Leadership Conference (NLC) to be held February 2 – 3,
2006, in Washington, D.C. Join us in our nation’s capital for NLC
2006, where the best minds from all levels of government, the private
sector and academia will discuss measuring government performance.
Learn how to best communicate your program’s successes and
shortfalls to citizens, policy-makers and government leaders. Earn up
to 14 CPE hours, share best practices, connect with your peers and view
the latest technologies, services and products in the Exhibit Hall.
• Register online.
• Print registration form to send by fax/mail
(Adobe PDF).
• Visit the
conference website.
• Exhibit at NLC
2006.
Interested in the CGFM Designation?
Sign up for AGA's special Intensive Review Course and
take the CGFM Examinations this February in Washington, D.C. Don't miss
this opportunity to earn your CGFM! Click here for
more information.
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.
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November 21, 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
AGA's FMSB
Issues AICPA Comment Letter
AGA's Financial Management Standards
Board (FMSB) has adressed a proposed AICPA Statement on Auditing
Standards, titled Communicating Internal Control Related Matters
Noted in an Audit. The Auditing Standards Board proposes changes
to existing definitions and guidance to conform to guidance in PCAOB
Auditing Standard No. 2. Click here to read the FMSB's
comments.
Federal Agencies Lose
Ground on E-Gov
Six agencies saw their grades fall on the electronic government
portion of the Bush administration's latest quarterly management score
card, published last Monday. The grades reflect major agencies'
progress on the five main items on the President's Management Agenda as
of Sept. 30, which marked the end of fiscal 2005. The components are:
e-government, human capital, competitive sourcing, financial management
and linking performance information to budget decisions. The
Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and Department of State saw their
e-government marks on the traffic-light-style report card drop from
green, indicating "success," to yellow, for "mixed
results." Three agencies—the Interior and Justice
departments and the Agency for International Development—saw
their grades in the category fall to red, signaling
"unsatisfactory" performance. Overall, agencies met 97
percent of e-government milestones. On the four other PMA initiatives,
five agencies managed to improve their scores in specific categories.
Interior, Justice and the Smithsonian Institution saw higher scores on
the human capital initiative, while the Small Business Administration
moved to green on competitive sourcing and the General Services
Administration earned a top rating for financial management. The
Department of Labor maintained green ratings across the board
—Amelia Gruber, Government Executive. Click here to read the entire article.
To see the scorecard, click
here.
GAO Issues Guide to
Financial Reports
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued
the special publication Understanding the Primary Components of the
Annual Financial Report of the United States Government. As the
title indicates, GAO prepared the guide to provide a baseline
understanding of the significant information in each of the primary
components of the federal government’s annual financial report,
especially the financial statements. The guide explains the purpose of
each section of the federal government’s annual financial report
and provides examples and illustrative financial information to focus
readers on significant information found in each of the sections and
financial statements. By using the guide every American can obtain a
comprehensive overview, including valuable insights into the overall
financial operations, condition, and financial outlook of the federal
government. The report is located on GAO’s website and can be found by
searching for report GAO-05-958SP.
AGA Today is Brought to You by
Microsoft
 Have you
heard? Everyone’s talking about Microsoft Dynamics™—a
suite of products including an affordable ERP solution that streamlines
financial management and provides better access to reporting, and a CRM
solution that works from with Microsoft® Outlook to helps improve
information sharing and constituent service. Click here
to find out why government agencies are using Microsoft Dynamics™
today.
Time Names Best (and Worst)
Governors
Time magazine named five governors as the
nation's best: Arkansas' Mike Huckabee, Nevada's
Kenny Guinn, Arizona's Janet
Napolitano, Kansas' Kathleen Sebelius and
Virginia's Mark Warner. The magazine also listed three
governors it considers the worst: Louisiana's Kathleen
Blanco, South Carolina's Mark Sanford and
Ohio's Bob Taft. —Time. Click here to read the entire article.
Voters Showing
Less Appetite for Tax Cuts
Has the American voter's ardor for cutting taxes and shrinking
government cooled? Voters in California, Colorado and Washington State
rejected ballot measures this month that would have rolled back tax
increases or limited state spending. Some say the votes could mark a
turning point in a decades-old revolt against high taxes that got its
symbolic start in California in 1978 with Proposition 13, which sharply
limited property tax increases for homeowners and cut deeply into state
services. It may be, some analysts suggested, that after the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and this year's Gulf Coast hurricanes,
Americans saw the value of government investment in infrastructure,
public safety and other services and are now more willing to pay for
it. "It looks like that to me," said John G. Matsusaka,
president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University
of Southern California Law School. "The public sector did a lot of
belt-tightening during the last recession, and the public now appears
to be letting it out a few notches." —John Broder, The
New York Times. Click here to read the entire article.
AGA Today is Brought to you by
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
When you choose to join the DHS
Financial Management Community, you become a part of an agency that
plays a critical role in making a difference in the securing our
homeland. DHS is currently offering extraordinary opportunities for
financial management professionals within the Department of Homeland
Security Office of the Chief Financial Officer. Apply today at www.usajobs.gov, see job
announcement DHSHQYR06-958. For more information about current or
future opportunities, contact john.mcnamara@dhs.gov.
Accounting Improvements Under Way at
Pentagon
The Pentagon is making progress getting
its financial books in order, but senior officials said Wednesday that
they still do not know when they will wrap up an audit of the U.S.
Department of Defense spending. It may take at least four or more
years, they said. Concerned that billions of dollars in the defense
budget are squandered each year, Congress has pressed Defense officials
to account for all dollars— from health care to program
development costs— spent by DoD. During a Senate Armed Services
Readiness Subcommittee hearing Wednesday, Pentagon Comptroller Tina
Jonas said she hopes to resolve many of the lingering financial issues
by 2009, but would not put a firm date on when an audit could be
completed. Readiness Subcommittee Chairman John Ensign, R-Nev., said
that the department's work this year is "far and away" the
most encouraging news Congress has received on the issue, but admitted
"the bar was pretty low before." —Megan Scully,
CongressDaily. Click here to read the entire
article.
GASAC Representative
Reports on Meeting
Sharon R. Russell, CGFM, AGA's representative on the
Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC), which
advises the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has written
a report on the highlights of the Nov. 3 and 4 meeting of the GASAC in
New York City. Click here to read her memorandum.
AGA Today is Brought to you
by
the State of Michigan, Department of Management and Budget
The State of Michigan,
Department of Management and Budget is filling the position of
Chief Financial Officer. This position is located in
Lansing, Michigan and has an annual salary of $74K to $113K. Click here for additional information and instructions on how
to apply.
AGA Member Joins
GASB
 Marcia L.
Taylor, CGFM, a member of AGA’s Central Pennsylvania Chapter, has
joined the GASB. Her term began this year and runs through 2010. She is
the assistant manager of Mount Lebanon, PA. She was a member of the
Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC) from 2001 to
2004 and served on the GASB's Task Force on Fund Balances/Net Assets.
Taylor is active in numerous professional organizations including the
Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), where she served as a
member of the Pennsylvania GFOA Board of Directors. She holds a
bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and a master’s
degree from Carnegie-Mellon University.
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