Career Profiles

Jason Arrington, CPA, CFE, AGA Dallas Chapter
 

Jason Arrington, 31, is a senior auditor with the Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He is also the president-elect of AGA’s Dallas Chapter, which will mark its 50^th anniversary in December.

Q: Where did you go to school?

A: I graduated from the University of North Texas (UNT) with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting Control Systems. UNT is home of the Grammy-nominated One O'clock Lab Jazz band and its alumni include: Norah Jones, Don Henley, Roy Orbison and Dr. Phil McGraw.
 

Q: Were you always interested in a government career?

A: To be honest with you, I never considered a job with the federal government until I interviewed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. I had no idea that jobs like these existed. During the interview, I absolutely fell in love with the job and felt like this was a career where I could truly make a difference—and I was right.
 

Q: How long have you worked for the federal government?

A: After graduating from UNT, I was hired by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General and have been employed here for a little over seven years. 
 

Q: What are your day-to-day duties now, and do you enjoy your work?

A: As a senior auditor, I have been designated as a project leader, responsible for the planning and execution of several audits involving Medicare and Medicaid that will save taxpayer’s several millions of dollars. Like I said before, this is a career where a difference can be made. Our job is to prevent and detect fraud and abuse in the programs and operations of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; identify systemic weaknesses; advise the Secretary and Congress about problems and deficiencies; and recommend improvements in costs, efficiency and effectiveness. Over the last 10 years, our agency has saved taxpayers $95 billion. In addition, we have improved financial management, program performance and internal controls in more than 300 departmental programs. Some of these programs you may recognize (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health). 

This career has enabled me to have a very good quality of life that is appealing to my generation because my agency offers flexible work hours, great benefits and a competitive salary along with other perks.  In addition, I have a family. My wife Jessica and I have a 16-month-old son, Ethan, and stability is very important to me. Unlike many of my friends who chose to work in the private sector, it’s nice to wake up every morning and not worry if I am going to be laid off. 
 

Q: Would you like to branch out, do other things?

A: That’s a good question because this career has enabled me to branch out and do other things. For the last seven years, I have had the opportunity to be get involved with AGA’s Dallas Chapter. It also really helps that our agency has been very supportive of AGA’s mission of advancing government accountability. In fact, two previous top senior executives who have retired from our agency, the former Inspector General June Gibbs Brown, CGFM, and Tom Roslewicz, CGFM, the former Deputy Inspector General for Audit Services, served as National Presidents of AGA. Our Regional Inspector General, Gordon Sato, CGFM, has been very involved with the Dallas Chapter of AGA and we would not be as successful without his support. 
 

Q: What are your career goals?

A: When I first began my career working for this agency, my short-term goals were to become a senior auditor and pass the CPA examination. Now that I have accomplished those goals, I would have to say my long-term goal would entail showing up for work every day with a positive attitude, staying motivated and taking initiative, and identifying my weakness and improving in those areas. If I focus on that, good things will happen.
 

Q: Would you encourage other young people to consider a government career - why or why not?

A: If an individual were interested in a career that’s challenging and rewarding, with a competitive salary, excellent benefits and the opportunity for advancement, then yes, I would encourage that individual to consider a career in government.
 

Q: How did you find the federal hiring process? Cumbersome or not?

A: I have heard that the federal hiring process can be cumbersome.  However, for me, everything happened so quickly. After my last interview, I received an offer in about two weeks.  
 

Q: How and when did you get involved in AGA?

A: I became a member of AGA soon after I was employed by the OIG.  Patrick Cogley, who is now a Regional Inspector General and involved in AGA’s Kansas City Chapter, recruited me. It was basically an easy sales pitch for him. Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to join an organization that provided numerous networking opportunities within our profession, excellent training and leadership opportunities, opportunities to serve the community, while at the same time promoting government accountability? 
 

Q: Tell me about your involvement in AGA.

A: I have been fairly active over the last seven years and have had the opportunity to serve as the Dallas Chapter’s program director for several years, education director, community service director and social director. I have also been serving on the regional PDC committee for the last three years and my current position is president-elect of the chapter. 
 

Q: Has involvement in AGA helped your career?

A: I believe that it has helped me. Not only by the training provided by the chapter, but by the many key leadership positions I have held.  These officer positions have helped me in areas that directly relate to my job, such as leading meetings and discussions, handling and resolving conflicts successfully, setting goals and ensuring that they are met, and identifying key weaknesses that can be improved upon. 

Q: Any other benefits?

A: Being active in AGA has allowed me to establish and maintain friendships with members that will, hopefully, last a lifetime. 
 

Q: As president-elect, do you have any particular goals for your term? 

A: Back in June, I had the opportunity to attend AGA’s National PDC in San Diego with our current AGA Dallas President, Michael Chambless, who is doing an outstanding job this year. Together, we spent many afternoons brain-storming and came up with some wonderful ideas that we are implementing this year and will continue throughout next year as well.  Two of our main initiatives include retaining current members and attracting new members. 

Two months ago, the Dallas Chapter conducted a survey to identify areas for improvement. The results of that survey revealed that most individuals became AGA members because of the networking opportunities. Therefore, we wanted to increase these opportunities and added more AGA socials to the calendar. Because our chapter survey revealed that, as a whole, our members enjoy the monthly meeting, but were unhappy with the networking opportunities available at the meetings, we have designed creative ways to increase these opportunities.

In addition, the survey revealed that our members also placed a high importance on monthly meetings and training. Overall, we received high marks on meetings/training, but feel that we can still improve in this area. The survey revealed that members are interested in topics like fraud, ethics and auditing/accounting; so we will emphasize these topics as part of our education curriculum. We will try to limit the topics with low scores, which include income tax, budgeting, law and the economy. Furthermore, to satisfy the needs of our local government members, we will secure top city financial managers from the Dallas-Fort Worth area to speak at some of our meetings and conferences. 

Finally, we identified all Dallas Chapter members who let their dues lapse and, therefore, became suspended. As a result of contacting each of these members in person, many renewed. 

To increase membership within the chapter, we spent time thinking “out of the box” and came up with some wonderful ideas to help us accomplish this initiative.

With the large amount of universities within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, we believe we can successfully recruit the accounting students at these universities to our chapter. Therefore, this year, we will attend accounting fraternity meetings at two local universities and speak with students about careers in government and the benefits of joining AGA. 

In addition, to increase membership, our chapter has implemented a recruitment campaign this year where each member will receive $20 for each new member they recruit. 

Furthermore, we have identified federal agencies located in Dallas that employ a large number of financial professionals. However, none of these employees are members of our chapter. We are currently making arrangements to visit with senior managers at these agencies in hopes of attracting them, and their employees, to AGA. 

I also like to add that we spent time creating a database of senior-level government financial managers within the area that are not members of AGA. We plan on sending these individuals information on our education and training sessions, along with membership applications and recruitment brochures. 

Finally, we are planning on setting up booths at university career fairs and speaking to accounting students about the networking and leadership opportunities available to them through AGA.