Thank You To Our Sponsors!

AGA extends a special "thank you" to our sponsors for their generous support of PDC 2009. We appreciate all you have done to help make this event possible!

PLATINUM
Grant Thornton LLP Global Public Sector

Teradata Corporation

GOLD
Accenture

CGI

Deloitte.

Ernst & Young LLP

Kearney & Company

Oracle USA, Inc.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Visa Inc.

SILVER
Altum, Inc.

Clifton Gunderson LLP

IBM Global Business Services

KPMG LLP

SAP Business Objects

BRONZE
Booz Allen Hamilton

The MIL Corporation

BRASS
Savantage Solutions

The Graduate School, USDA

June 24, 2009 • Special PDC Edition

Acting Comptroller General Kicks Off PDC's Second Day
The second day of AGA’s Professional Development Conference & Exposition began with a sobering assessment of the challenges posed by the economic downturn, the federal stimulus efforts and the long-term outlook for the U.S. fiscal condition.

Acting Comptroller General of the United States Gene L. Dodaro, CGFM, CPA, who leads the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), discussed the agency’s role in the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in February to create jobs, jumpstart the economy and help states in fiscal crisis, among other goals.

One of GAO’s many responsibilities relating to the Recovery Act is conducting bi-monthly reviews of state and local governments’ use of the funds and studying the long-term effect of the downturn on the states. GAO is conducting a longitudinal study of 16 states and the District of Columbia as well as reviews of specific programs. The 16 states selected for the study account for about two-thirds of the Recovery Act funding and an equal amount of the U.S. population. GOA is tasked with finding out how the money was used, looking at the safeguards for managing the money and the results of the spending. Read more.

Jazzing it Up at the PDC in New Orleans
John Edward Hasse, music historian, pianist, and award-winning author and record producer, applied leadership lessons from the greatest jazz musicians to the challenges faced by today’s accountability professionals.

Hasse played several piano selections and used samples of Ella Fitzgerald’s improvisational singing style, Benny Goodman’s long clarinet solos, and the muted, introspective sound of Miles Davis’ trumpet to illustrate many points about leadership.

While jazz seems an unlikely place to look for leadership lessons, jazz bands and government organizations have much in common, said Hasse, speaking at a keynote session at the PDC Tuesday afternoon. Both are complex, adaptive systems facing the difficulties of getting all parts to play well together.

Read about Hasse’s 10 leadership lessons.

Watch the AGA Blog for frequent updates from the PDC!

In other news:

OMB Releases Much-Anticipated Reporting Guidance
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released much-anticipated reporting guidance yesterday for an estimated 90,000 recipients of funds distributed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The document also provides guidance for federal agencies. Information gathered under the new guidance will include who is receiving Recovery Act dollars, how much they are receiving, what projects or activities are being funded, the completion status of each project and what impact the project is having on job creation and retention. Visit the Keeping Track of the Recovery Act section of AGA's website for more information, including a link to download the report.

© Association of Government Accountants 2009

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.