Highlights

Nov. 12: Understanding the Importance of Soft Controls in Improving Operations

Dec. 10—21st Century Financial Managers: New Mix of Skills and Education Levels

This Week on the AGA Blog
Wednesday: Ric Sylvester, Director, Property, Plant and Equipment Policy Office, Undersecretary of Defense, Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, U.S. Department of Defense "Maintenance and Modifications"

Friday: Steve Gordon, Ph.D., CPPO, FNIGP, Director of Procurement, City of Alexandria, VA

AGA Needs You on the Blog! Come share your opinions with the AGA community! We are now booking for October. Contact Marie Force to book your day on the AGA Blog.

Training Opportunities

Looking for a Job?

AGA Announces Four New Courses
Four new AGA-sponsored courses are designed to help financial managers and auditors add value to government performance. The courses are presented in cooperation with The Auditor Roles in Performance Measurement Project Team of The Institute of Internal Auditors, which developed the courses under a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. These courses can be customized to an organization’s needs, to immerse participants in high-value audit skills and to provide additional ways to apply them. The four courses include:
 
A New Service Model: Auditor Roles in Government Performance Measurement
 
Assessing the Reliability and Relevance of Performance Information
 
Assessing the Quality of Performance Information and Performance Reports
 
Auditing Performance Management Systems

Read more details about these and other AGA-sponsored training courses, or contact AGA Director of Education Joe Jozefczyk at 800.AGA.7211, ext. 307.

Member News
Mary Cathy Presnell, CGFM, CPA, CISA, a member of AGA's Northern Virginia Chapter, has been elected as a managing director in KPMG's federal advisory practice serving the intelligence community. Presnell joined KPMG in 1997.

Robin Valentine, CGFM, CPA, a member of AGA's Washington, D.C. Chapter, has been elected to KPMG's U.S. partnership. She is an audit partner serving on rotation, where she provides internal guidance on Government Auditing Standards and federal audit guidelines. Valentine joined KPMG in 1997 and has extensive experience serving federal clients.

Attend the CEAR Reviewers' Training
Are you interested in being a reviewer for the Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting Program? If so, attend the free training on Dec. 8 at the Department of Education auditorium on Maryland Avenue and receive 3 hours of CPE. Space is limited and you must register by Dec. 1.  Reviewers will receive information on how best to review a Performance and Accountability Report or Pilot Program Report. Visit our site for more information, or contact Lynn Hoffman.

Oracle Federal Forum Set for Oct. 29
Federal government agencies are transforming to meet the increasing public demands, legislative mandates, and economic and political pressures. Agencies need to be more efficient and accountable while providing services and information to constituents more quickly and in a cost-effective manner. Legacy information systems and ever more complex programs make it challenging to meet government's goals. Oracle and its partners invite you to the Oracle Federal Forum, set for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 29 in the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., where we will discuss these critical challenges. Featured speaker is presidential historian Michael Beschloss. As the world's largest provider of enterprise software solutions, Oracle is in a unique position to help government solve their critical issues. As a long-standing partner with the federal government, Oracle has helped over 1,500 government organizations deliver on their core missions. Register today.

AGA Advertising Opportunities!
Advertise in AGA's electronic newsletters—TOPICS and AGA Today! Get maximum exposure and build your brand. Find out what's available in an upcoming issue. Click here for all the information you need to run your ad. Or, you can contact April Force Pardoe.

Volume 48: Issue 19, October 20, 2008

TOPICS is Brought to You by AGA Corporate Partner Grant Thornton

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.

Only One Week Until AGA's Performance Management Conference—Register Today!
Join us on Oct. 27–28, 2008 in Seattle for AGA’s Performance Management Conference (PMC)—a one-of-a-kind event focusing on government performance reporting. The PMC will be held at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, 515 Madison St., Seattle, WA.

This event will bring together federal, state and local government leaders to share in educational sessions, network and recognize government entities that have been honored with AGA’s Certificate of Achievement in Service Efforts and Accomplishments (SEA) Reporting. The PMC is packed with dynamic speakers and informative sessions. Don’t miss this opportunity to share successful practices with industry leaders and peers, and to bring invaluable performance management strategies back to your agency. 

Earn 14 CPE hours at informative, timely sessions designed to give you the knowledge you need to be more effective. Create your own curriculum from a fantastic offering of educational sessions including:

• Activity-Based Costing and Performance Management
• Auditors Working with Management to Advance Performance Management
• Citizen Engagement from Community to State: Issues, Challenges and Lessons Learned from Vancouver, WA, King County, WA, and Washington State
• Essential Ingredients for Successful Performance Management
• Federal Government Performance Update
• GASB Update
• Improving Government Transparency Through Citizen-Centric Reporting
• Lessons Learned for the Next Administration
• National Opportunities in Benchmarking
• Performance Based Management Reporting—Integrating Financial and Performance Information
• Rev Up Your Work Force: The Value of Employee Engagement
• Sustaining a Performance Measurement System
• Transforming Budgeting Process to Deliver Citizen Value
• We’ve Come a Long Way Baby! Thirty Years of Performance Management and Reporting

Learn from Top-Notch Speakers and Industry Experts: Hear from industry experts and leaders in federal, state and local government, the private sector and academia who are on the forefront of performance management and government financial management, including:

• Robert Attmore, CGFM, Chair, Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)
• Scott B. Bassett, MBA, Performance Measurement Program Manager, Audit Services, Department of Transportation, State of Oregon
• Sharon Daboin, Deputy Secretary for Performance Improvement, Governor’s Budget Office, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
• H. Stuart Elway, Ph.D., President, Elway Research, Inc.
• Harry P. Hatry, Principal Research Associate, Urban Institute
• Tom Nosack, Performance Analyst, Financial and Management Services, City of Vancouver, WA
• Paul Posner, Professor and Director, Master's in Public Administration Program, George Mason University; Former Director of Federal Budget & Intergovernmental Relations, U.S. Government Accountability Office
• John J. Radford, CGFM, CIA, CFE, State Comptroller, State of Oregon; Member, AGA National Executive Committee
• Robert Shea, Associate Director for Administration and Government Performance, U.S. Office of Management and Budget
• Kenneth A. Smith, BA, MBA, Ph.D., CPA, Assistant Professor of Accounting, Willamette University
• Brian Sonntag, State Auditor, State of Washington
• Rebekah Stephens, Planning and Performance Coordinator, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, TN
• Craig W. Thomas, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington
• And many more!

We look forward to seeing you in the Emerald City!

Register online.
Download the registration form.

Sleepless in Seattle? Stay an Extra Day and Earn 4 CPE Hours
Join Richard Tracy, Government Performance Consultant, Governmental Accounting Standards Board, for a half-day seminar entitled A New Service Model: Auditor Roles in Government Performance Measurement.

Learn how to apply an organized framework to determine which specific practices provide the best opportunities for adding new value to your agency. Through situational examples, case histories, self-assessment exercises and presentation materials you will learn: where to obtain tools used by innovative auditors for implementing these practices; which practices are best to apply now, and what skills you may need to develop; and how to change roles and practices to keep adding more value as performance management evolves.

The workshop takes place at the Renaissance Seattle on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008, from 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. The registration fee is $50. Visit our website for more information.

For detailed award information visit our site.

Call for Nominations for National Leaders —You Are Invited to Accept the Challenge of AGA National and Regional Leadership
Nominations are due Friday, Oct. 31, 2008. AGA’s National Nominating Committee is currently seeking members for volunteer leadership positions as:

• National President-Elect
• National Treasurer-Elect
• Senior Vice President for Regional Services – Section I & IV
• Fifteen Regional Vice Presidents (RVP)-Elect

Term
The three-year terms begin July 1, 2009.

Qualifications and Eligibility
To serve in any of these positions, candidates must be AGA members in good standing and have professional backgrounds for each position. Persons serving as National President, National President-Elect, National Treasurer, National Treasurer-Elect, Senior Vice President, and Regional Vice President may not serve concurrently in any other elective office of the Association, except the National Executive Committee. Other qualifications apply.

Submissions
All submissions will be forwarded to the National Nominating Committee who will choose the slate of candidates.  Please note that since the committee often receives more than one nomination per position, not every nominee will be selected. Candidates for elective office are reminded that the National Bylaws do not permit campaigning for elective office.  Additionally, only ONE nomination per candidate is necessary and candidates should not solicit additional nominations. Also, the process will not recognize endorsements of candidates.

For More Information
If you are interested in serving or know of potential leaders, please visit our website for a nominations brochure that contains information about position terms, qualifications and eligibility, a list of Sections/Regions/Chapters, and National Officer Nomination Form. Or, contact Michiyo Wheeler, Nominating Committee Staff Liaison, at the National Office at 703.684.6931, ext. 321.

Take advantage of this opportunity to shape the future of your Association!

AGA Sends Introductory Letters to the McCain and Obama Campaigns
In an effort to introduce AGA and our ‘advancing government accountability’ mission and corresponding programs to U.S. presidential hopefuls, Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama, letters were sent out last week to their campaigns. The goal of these letters was to inform each candidate about AGA’s government accountability resources and programs, such as our Citizen-Centric program, and ultimately, to let the candidates know that AGA will be a critical resource to the new administration in helping to choose qualified federal Chief Financial Officers and Inspectors General as well as other financial management-related Presidential appointees. View the letters: McCain • Obama

Seventeen Universities to Participate in AGA's Second Government Finance Case Challenge
We are happy to report that AGA received a great deal of interest in the case challenge. New schools are registered to participate in this year's challenge while other schools will be using the case as a teaching example in accounting classes. View the list of participating teams. Many thanks to the AGA members and chapters that encouraged their local universities to participate. This case challenge continues to serve as a great way to introduce undergraduate students to the challenges and the possibilities that are connected to a career in the government financial management profession. The case will be delivered to our registered teams this morning. The two finalist teams will be announced on Monday, Nov. 24. Stay tuned!

Free Research Reports Available from AGA—XBRL and Public Sector Financial Reporting
Standardized Business Reporting: the Oregon CAFR Project This research studied the benefits of developing and using an XBRL-taxonomy to tag data in a state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). It is the first actual pilot implementation of XBRL in the governmental sector. The report provides a brief technical overview of XBRL as well as graphics demonstrating the process of converting the CAFR data into XBRL, creating the instance document and rendering the instance document into a readable conventional file format.

SAS 70 Reports: Are They Useful and Can They Be Improved? This research paper addresses the usefulness to governments of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' (AICPA) Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No.70, Service Organizations, and whether improvements to the implementation of the standard could increase its usefulness. SAS 70 reports are used by numerous federal and state agencies when they outsource their financial systems and services, most commonly payroll. Read who is using them, what they say about them and what the future may hold for SAS 70. Contact Susan Fritzlen for paper copies of these reports.

Third Annual National Community Service Project Set for April 27–May 1, 2009
Community service and helping those who are less fortunate than ourselves is an important part of what AGA is about. The dates for our Third Annual National Community Service project are April 27–May 1, 2009, again sandwiched between the two weekends of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festivals. We will seek lodging in the beautiful, new University of New Orleans dormitory (two-bedroom, furnished apartments) with a rate of only about $20 per night, per person.

Due to popular demand, we have created a second opportunity next year to experience what it’s like to work with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans. Since AGA’s National PDC is in New Orleans June 21-24, 2009, we will also have a one-day community service event with Habitat on Thursday, June 25, the day after the PDC ends. For this event, we will seek to extend AGA’s special hotel rate to include this extra night. I hope you will pencil in these dates on your calendar and join us for some of the fun! —AGA Past National President Jeffrey S. Hart, CGFM, CFE

AGA Staff List

AGA Membership Application

CGFM Application

Audio Conferences

Training Opportunities

Other AGA Links

CGFM Certification—Learn More

Register for AGA's Fourth Annual Performance Management Conference, Oct. 27–28, 2008, Seattle, WA

Bring New AGA-Sponsored Training Courses to Your Organization

(C) Association of Government Accountants 2008

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.