Highlights
Introducing Cindy
Green...
AGA is pleased to announce that Cynthia B. Green,
Ph.D., will be serving as technical consultant for AGA's
Certificate of Achievement in Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA)
Reporting Program. She will replace Harold I. Steinberg,
CGFM, who will focus on his many other activities but will
still act as our technical consultant for the Certificate of Excellence
in Accountability Reporting (CEAR) Program. Green, whose passion is
SEA, is a former member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.
Welcome Cindy!
GASB Seeks Comments on SEA
Exposure Draft
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) recently released
an Exposure Draft on concepts related to Service Efforts and
Accomplishments Reporting, an amendment of GASB Concepts Statement No.
2. GASB is seeking comments to its exposure draft by July 3,
2008. Written comments should be addressed to: Director
of Research and Technical Activities Project 20-1.
The document is available for download from the GASB website. In addition, GASB will hold a public hearing on July 29, during AGA’s Professional Development Conference & Exposition in Atlanta.
GASB proposes to modify four sections of Concepts Statement No. 2 and eliminate one section, Developing Reporting Standards for SEA Information. GASB is also developing principles-based suggested guidelines for voluntary reporting of SEA performance information.
Governing Article
Discusses the Role of the City Auditor
Jonathan Walters of Governing magazine
has written The Super
Sleuth, an article in his series on public performance measurement
focusing on citizen involvement.
June 2008 • Volume 2, Issue 4
Make Plans to
Attend AGA's Performance Management Conference
The Fourth
Annual Performance Management Conference is set for Oct. 27–28,
2008, at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel. This year's conference,
Promoting Government Accountability through Performance
Management, promises to build on last year's excellent
presentations on state and local government performance measures and
management. New this year to the conference is a series of sessions
that deal exclusively with federal government reporting issues. The
presentations will focus on three themes: management, reporting and
budgeting/priority-setting.
Join the PMC technical committee chairs, Mark Howard, global program director for Public Sector Finance and Performance Management, Accenture; Michael Jacobson, performance management director of King County, WA; Rich Siegel, Performance and Outreach Coordinator, Bellevue, WA; and Brian Estes, CGFM, senior principal management auditor, King County Auditor's Office (and recently retired from the Government Accountability Office). The conference will be timely, practical and most of all, useful as you seek to improve or begin a performance reporting system for your entity. Speakers are:
- Ron Sims, King County Executive, King County, WA (confirmed)
- Jonathan Walters, author and senior correspondent, Governing magazine (invited)
- Robert Attmore, CGFM, Chairman, Governmental Accounting Standards Board (confirmed)
The registration fee remains the same as last year. Early registration (through Sept. 29): $395 for AGA members; $450 for nonmembers; and $445 for AGA members and $495 for nonmembers after Sept. 29. The government rate for rooms is $152 plus tax—make your reservations early.
See the website for more information about the conference. If you are interested in seeing a certain topic on the conference agenda, contact Eveanna Barry, director of Performance Reporting.
Special Hotel Offer for
PMC
Is your state or local government committed to learning
more about performance reporting? AGA is offering five hotel
scholarships (for three nights each) to the Performance Management
Conference in Seattle for AGA members who are interested in
learning more about AGA's Service Efforts and Accomplishments Report
Review Program. If interested, contact Eveanna Barry, director of
Performance Reporting. The scholarships will be offered on a
first-come, first-served basis.
Audio Conference
Set—Everything You Wanted to Know about Performance Reporting
but Were Afraid to Ask
Speakers for this audio conference are Drummond
Kahn, CGFM, Director, Audit Services,
Portland, OR; Rebekah Stephens, Planning and
Performance Coordinator, Metro Nashville, TN; and Mike
Taylor, City Auditor, Stockton, CA.
Join us from 2–3:50 p.m. Aug. 20.The audio conference will feature Kahn setting the stage as he explains the process Portland uses to prepare its performance report, how it has been used by governing bodies, internal management and the citizens and what lessons Portland has learned as their report has matured. Next, we will focus on two governments that recently submitted a performance (SEA) report to AGA for review. Stockton, CA, and Nashville, TN, each received AGA's Certificate of Achievement in Service Efforts and Accomplishments Reporting.
As first-time submitters and first-time award recipients, Stephens and Taylor will talk about their experiences before the actual preparation of the report; the work in preparing and producing the report and finally, how it is currently being used internally and externally. Learn more information about the audio conference.
New Law Opens State
Finances to the Public
The state of Mississippi has passed a transparency law,
which is designed to allow residents to access the state's accounting
books online. The Mississippi Accountability and Transparency Act was
signed into law on April 14 and requires the state's Department of
Finance and Administration to create a searchable website containing
information on the use of state funds and bond proceeds. Learn
more.
Other AGA links
Register for AGA's Third Internal Control & Fraud Conference, Sept. 23–24, 2008, Phoenix, AZ
Register for AGA's Fourth Annual Performance Management Conference, Oct. 27–28, 2008, Seattle, WA
Bring New AGA-Sponsored Training Courses to Your Organization
Disclaimer: AGA serves government accountability
professionals by providing quality education, fostering
professional development and certification, and supporting
standards and research to advance government
accountability. If you would like to opt off of future AGA
mailings, please e-mail agawebmaster@agacgfm.org.
Thank you.
© 2008 Association of Government Accountants