AGA TOPICS Newsletter

When Curtis Carlson joined AGA in the early 1970s, it was a natural offshoot of his commitment to professional development. Before his career even began, he was president of his college accounting club, so when his colleagues at the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) in Dallas encouraged him to join AGA, it was a logical move.

“Over the years it’s developed into quite a professional Association,” Carlson said, adding that his membership helped his career in a number of different ways. “I kept abreast of government financial management, accounting and auditing, and it gave me some key contacts with other agencies and other federal employees.”

Carlson, a member of the Dallas Chapter, retired in 1995 as director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Dallas regional office. He had served 20 years with the DOE, which followed 12 years with GAO, including four in Europe. During his tenure at DOE, he audited oil companies, and then moved over to the management side and became responsible for an energy conservation program, which was funded by oil overcharge money that came back to the states.

AGA membership and the contacts he made were particularly helpful at that point in his career, as he worked closely with the governor’s office on the state’s energy conservation programs. Knowing other professionals at other agencies was invaluable. “If I had a question, I would just call up the people in the other agencies,” he said.

Carlson said he attended AGA meetings regularly and took advantage of the training events that were offered to earn CPE hours and stay up-to-date on developments in the field. Even though he’s been retired for eight years, Carlson plans to stick with AGA.

He said the Association has been at the cutting edge of developments in the field. He recalls seminars on subjects that later became big issues in the field — white collar crime for example.