Highlights
Training
Opportunities
Looking
for a Job?
Register for AGA’s National Performance Management
Conference
How well does your government
provide what its citizens need and expect? Learn successful
performance management strategies from state and local governments
at AGA's Second National Performance Management Conference
on October 30-31, 2006. Agenda, registration,
hotel and travel information is now available on the conference
website. In addition, the PMC
Registration Brochure is now available online! This year's PMC will
provide you with information about state and local performance
management through dynamic educational sessions and speakers. Hear from
recipients of the Service Efforts and Accomplishments Certificate of
Achievement, as they explain their process for producing award-winning
reports.View the agenda of educational sessions and speakers: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
SAS No. 112: Impact on
Auditors and Preparers
NASACT, in conjunction with AGA and ALGA, is pleased to
announce an audio conference on AICPA Statement on Auditing Standards
No. 112, which establishes standards and provides guidance on
communicating matters related to an entity’s internal control
over financial reporting identified in an audit of financial
statements. The audio conference, worth 2 CPE hours, is set for 2
– 3:50 p.m. EDT on Oct. 19. Speakers are Randy
Roberts, Director of Professional Practices, Office of the
Auditor General, state of Arizona, and Arizona State Comptroller
Clark Partridge. Cost is $249 if you
register before Oct. 13.
New Yellow Book Focus of Nov. 8 Audio
Conference
AGA, in conjunction with NASACT and ALGA, is pleased to
announce a new and
significant audio conference addressing the 2006 revisions to
the Government
Auditing Standards, commonly known as the Yellow
Book,
set for November 8
from 2 – 3:50 p.m. EST. The audio conference, worth 2
CPE
hours,
will likely contain substantial revisions to the standards and
is designed
to lead the profession in the areas of audit quality and
ethics, and to
reflect a number of modernizations and leading practices for
financial and
performance audits. To discuss the major changes and
interpretation of the
Government Auditing Standards is AGA Past National President
Jeffrey Steinhoff, CGFM, Managing Director, Financial
Management and Assurance, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO);
Jeanette M. Franzel, CGFM, Director, Financial
Management and Assurance, GAO; and
Marcia B. Buchanan, CGFM, Assistant Director,
Financial Management and Assurance, GAO. The three are considered to be
GAO's Yellow Book "gurus." Cost is $249 per site if
you register by November
3; $299 thereafter.
Chapter
News
Visit AGA’s Local Chapter listing to make sure we have your
most current chapter information. If not, or if you would like to make
changes, please e-mail Jessica
Jones
Member Happenings
Two longtime members of AGA's Nashville Chapter recently passed away.
Patricia Wright, CGFM, CFE, an AGA member since 1985,
was the first woman hired in a professional accounting role at the
Metropolitan Nashville government, where she worked as a financial
administrator for more than 30 years. After retiring, she moved to
California and worked as a manufacturing analyst with McDonnell Douglas
Corp. She died July 28 at age 74. Billy Rogers, a
former auditor with the Comptroller's Office, Division of State Audit,
was elected to the Putnam County Commission in 1978 and was running for
his eighth term. He died June 15 at age 61.
AGA Advertising
Opportunities!
Advertise in AGA's electronic
newsletters—TOPICS and AGA Today! Get maximum
exposure and build your brand. Find all the information you need to run your
ad! Or,
you can contact AGA's Director of Communications, Marie
Force. |
Volume 46: Issue
17, September 11, 2006
 AGA
remembers September 11, 2001 and the more than 3,000 Americans who lost
their lives, including three of our own members: Patricia E. (Patty)
Mickley, CGFM, Diana B. Padro and Janice M. Scott.
TOPICS is Brought to You by AGA Corporate
Partner 
Grant Thornton Global Public Sector delivers
financial, technology and performance management solutions to federal,
state and local government clients, and international organizations.
Call us to see if we can help your agency manage its resources more
efficiently and effectively at 703.637.2750.
From the National President,
Jeffrey S. Hart, CGFM, CFE
In Creating Exceptional Value for
Government Accountability Professionals, I've said we are
going to be guided by our core AGA values of Service, Accountability,
Integrity, and Leadership. Under our second AGA strategic
value—Accountability—we are aggressively seeking out new
and exciting ways to advance government accountability.
One exciting way we’ve found to do that
is to research the feasibility of expanding AGA internationally. As a
first step, I appointed AGA Past National Treasurer Billy Morehead,
CGFM, as chair of our long-standing International Development
Committee. I also asked Billy to form a sub-committee to do this
important research and prepare a report with recommendations about how
we should proceed. Read more about President Hart's efforts in the
international arena.
Still Time to Register
for AGA's Fraud Conference, Sept. 25-26
 14 CPE Hours, An Outstanding
Technical Program—This Year's Program Is Not To Be
Missed!
The Internal Control & Fraud Conference
promises to be an excellent learning and networking opportunity. With
the theme “Fraud Prevention and Detection: The Newest Tools and
Techniques,” this conference will focus on management’s
responsibility for ensuring a good internal control system and the role
of accountability professionals in minimizing the risk of fraud, waste
and abuse.
Learn about the $67 billion Iraq Oil-for-Food
fraud; Medicare/Medicaid fraud; A-123 implementation; internal controls
and fraud in not-for-profit organizations and cities; school district
fraud in the state of New York; and the use of fraud hotlines in cities
across the country. This year’s speakers include:
- Christine C. Boesz,
Ph.D.,
Inspector General, National Science Foundation
- Daniel L. Fletcher, CPA,
Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Director, Office of Financial
Management, U.S. Department of the Interior
- Russell W. Hinton, CGFM, CPA,
State Auditor, State of Georgia
- Matthew A. Jadacki, CGFM,
CPA, Special Inspector General for Gulf Coast Hurricane
Recovery, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- Danielle Knighten, MBA,
Ethics, Audit and Compliance Specialist, City of San Diego,
CA
- Cindy Liebes, Assistant
Director, Identity Theft Division, Federal Trade Commission
- Bertis B. Little, Ph.D.,
Associate Vice President for Research and Professor, Tarleton State
University
- Samuel T. Mok, CGFM, CIA,
Chief Financial Officer, U.S. Department of Labor; Member, AGA
National Executive Committee
- Cynthia T. Osga, CGFM,
Internal Control Specialist, State of Michigan
- Richard L. Skinner,
Inspector General, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- Brenda Thew, Esq,
Director, Division of Benefit Integrity Management Operations,
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
- David M. Walker, CPA,
Comptroller General of the United States, U.S. Government
Accountability Office
Registration
couldn’t be easier. You can register online or print the registration form to register by
fax or mail.
Every accountability professional plays an
important role—register today and show your commitment to a more
accountable government!
TOPICS is Brought to You by AGA
Corporate Partner
 Transforming Data into Insight in the Federal
Government
Deploy resources and measure results
more
effectively to achieve your mission
Hyperion Solutions Free Webinar and
Demo
October 4, 2006 at 2:00PM EST
Government managers often face challenges in
decision making not because of a lack of data, but rather an over
abundance of data and a lack of truly meaningful information. With an
overload of raw data, you need a way to quickly and easily transform
raw data into meaningful insight to make informed decisions faster to
meet your strategic goals and objectives. Attend this webinar and learn
how an enterprise analytics solution can help you ensure the effective
deployment of resources and measure results against any initiative or
mission. Click here to learn more.
AGA Corporate
Partners—61 Members Strong!
 We are pleased to welcome our newest Corporate Partners to
the AGA family: Lionel
Henderson & Company,
LogicalApps and MorganFranklin Corporation.
In total, AGA has 61 Corporate Partners, including public accounting
firms, major system integrators, IT companies, management consulting
firms, financial services organizations and education and training
companies. These organizations all have long-term commitments to
advancing government accountability and choose to partner with and help
AGA move forward as the thought leader in the government community.
The mission of the Corporate
Partner Program is to bring private sector and government executives
together to exchange information, support professional development,
improve communications and understanding, solve issues and build
partnership and trust. Like AGA, the private sector is interested in
improving the financial health of governments at all levels. The
private sector offers services and products that can help government
accountability professionals do their jobs more efficiently and
effectively. Check out all of
the Corporate Partners. Attention Retired CGFMs!
 Have you
notified AGA of your retirement or have you returned to
work?
Individuals who are retired from
AND are no longer substantially working in the government financial
management community can request an adjustment of their status to
"retired" by contacting AGA's Office of Professional
Certification (by mail or e-mail at agacgfm@agacgfm.org). CGFMs in
retired status are not required to remit the CGFM renewal fee or earn
the 80 CPE hours.
If retired CGFMs return to work
(substantial employment or contracting) in the government financial
management community, they must contact AGA to change their status back
to "active." Questions? Contact the Office of Professional
Certification at 800.AGA.7211, ext. 305.
TOPICS is Brought to You
by
the University of Alabama in Huntsville
 Federal
Contract Management Essentials – Program Begins October 25
Explore the realm of contract management through
real-world examples and grow your knowledge base for success in the
federal contracting arena. This Certificate Program covers the
Government Procurement System, Contract Types and Structuring, Legal
Aspects of Government Contracting, Required and Optional Contract
Clauses, Cost and Price Analysis, and Contract Administration.
For detailed information on this or our more advanced program,
Federal Contract Management Specialization, visit www.e-trainingsolutions.net
or email ann@e-trainingsolutions.net
Now Accepting Nominations for the Distinguished Local
Government Leadership Award & Other Leadership Awards to be
Presented at the NLC in February
Which local government professional do you know that has
demonstrated outstanding leadership that led to improved financial
management practices, policies, systems or operations? Nominate your
candidate for AGA’s Distinguished Local Government Leadership Award today.
All leadership award nominations must be submitted electronically to Rosanna Ortiz by Friday,
October 27, 2006.
Call for Nominations for AGA’s National and
Regional Leadership Team
If you're interested in the opportunity to shape the
Association’s programs, advance your profession and represent
members’ interest in the government accountability community then
submit your nomination TODAY for these National Board of Directors
positions:
- National President-Elect
- National Treasurer-Elect
- Senior Vice President for
Regional Services - Section II
- Senior Vice President
At-Large
- Regional Vice
Presidents-Elect
Those elected will
take office on July 1, 2007 and serve a three-year term of office. For
more information on the requirements of each position visit the governance section
of AGA’s website. An e-submission of your completed nomination form is due to Rosanna Ortiz by Friday,
October 27, 2006.
New Address? Changed
Employers? Need to Renew your Membership or CGFM?
 Did you know that you can handle all of these updates 24
hours a day with just a few clicks of the mouse? Through AGA’s
website, you can update your AGA profile (mailing address, phone
numbers, emails, etc.) and settle any balance you may have on your
account (click on the ‘Billing’ tab once you are logged in
to see if you need to renew).
You simply enter the AGA website, log on to the
Members Only section using your member ID number and password. Your
login is your member ID number and your password is your first initial
immediately followed by your last name. From there, you will see your
AGA profile.
Not sure of your member ID number
or having problems logging in? Contact the AGA Customer Satisfaction
Center at 800.AGA.7211 and/or agamembers@agacgfm.org.
FREE Research Reports
Available from AGA—Request Your Copies Today!
The
Federal Purchase Card: Use, Policy and Best Practice
This report summarizes the findings of a study of
purchase card use by federal government agencies. This study is the
first research on the topic to focus solely on federal use of
procurement cards. The study is part one of a four-part series. The
subsequent three phases of this AGA study series will review purchase
card use by state and local governments; the travel card-government
issued charge cards used for travel-by federal government agencies; and
the travel card used by state and local governments. Contact Susan Fritzlen for a hard copy
of the report.
Challenges in Performance Auditing: How a State
Auditor with Intriguing New Performance Auditing Authority is Meeting
Them
In November 2005 the citizens of Washington state
voted to give their state auditor the most extensive authority in the
country to conduct comprehensive, independent performance audits of
state and local governments. To carry out this authority, the
citizen-sponsored initiative dedicated a portion of the state sales and
use tax revenue solely for the conduct of performance audits. This
study documents the initial actions taken by the state auditor to
implement the provisions and prepare to conduct performance audits.
Contact Susan Fritzlen for a
hard copy of the report.
PAR: The Report We Hate to Love
Report No. 6 is the first cooperative project with
PricewaterhouseCoopers taking the lead and supported by representatives
from AOC Solutions, Booz Allen Hamilton, CSC and IBM. The report was
undertaken to determine the usefulness of Performance and
Accountability Reports (PARs) for their intended audiences, and how
that usefulness can be improved. Contact Susan Fritzlen for a hard copy
of the report.
We continue to start new projects
and welcome ideas for the program. Please contact Anna Miller, AGA Director of
Research to pass along suggestions.
Want to Make a
Difference? Consider a Career in Government Financial
Management
 Are you, or
someone from your chapter planning to attend a career fair, or an event
for college students? AGA now has an eye-catching brochure that offers
information about government financial management careers and answers
questions for aspiring government financial managers regarding the
qualifications and skills needed to get started. It also includes a
bookmark for students that directs them to the Tomorrow’s
Professionals website for more information. To order free copies of
the brochure, please submit the collateral order form found in the Members Only section or contact Jessica Jones.
From the National Office: AGA Seeks
Membership Manager
AGA is looking for a dynamic individual to
develop and implement marketing campaigns to maintain and grow its
membership. Individual needed to create and manage the development of
promotional materials; write promotional copy; administer the renewal
process; prepare reports and statistics; personally call prospects and
suspended members; monitor the effectiveness of marketing activities;
database management; respond to daily inquiries; and work with chapters
to involve them in the membership marketing process.
Candidates should possess a bachelor's degree
and three years of experience in membership development with an
impressive track record of accomplishments, including revenue growth.
Working knowledge of IMIS required. Great benefits and team environment
located in Del Ray Alexandria, Virginia, neighborhood! Please e-mail
resume and salary requirements to sfritzlen@agacgfm.org.
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