Ethics Webinar – April 13, 2023

New! Special addition for in-person attendance–Free to attend  

• Hill Farm Agencies – Registration Link
• All Agencies (Department of Administration Location) – Registration Link

Title: Ethical Dilemmas—You Make the Calls

Session Date and Time: April 13, 2023 1:00 – 3:00 pm CT (Virtual, via Zoom)

Description: If you said to a group of government accountability professionals, “raise your hand if you’re ethical,” every hand would go up.  Why, then, do we have ethical failures?  One answer is that not everyone recognizes it when confronted with an ethical dilemma. Another answer is that not everyone can agree on the “right” course of action to take in every situation.  This interactive webinar will explore several potential ethical dilemmas vis-à-vis AGA’s Code of Ethics to determine how and why trained and experienced government accountability professionals sometimes run afoul of our ethics principles.

Learning Objectives: After completing this session, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize the AGA’s Code of Ethics and how it can help you remain ethical.
2. Describe AGA’s ethics inquiry process and ethics enforcement process and results of recent ethics inquiries and investigations.
3. Evaluate hypothetical ethical dilemmas, whether they can result in a violation of AGA’s Code of Ethics, and propose your views about each dilemma.

NASBA Field of Study: Behavioral Ethics

Duration: 100 minutes (2 CPE hours)

Program level: Overview

Prerequisites: None

Advance Preparation: None

Cost:   AGA Members – Free

            Non-members – $10

Register below or send e-mail to Sherri Voigt with membership status, payment preference (non-members) and name(s) of attendees.

Registration Deadline is Tuesday, April 11, 2023.

Speaker Bio:

Melinda J. DeCorte, CPA, CFE, CGFM, PMP

Partner at Cotton, A Sikich Company

Melinda DeCorte has 25 years of accounting, auditing and government financial management experience. She directs, manages, and serves in a quality assurance capacity for financial statement audit engagements conducted in accordance with Government Auditing Standards (GAS) and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) auditing standards. She also has extensive advisory experience for multiple governmental agencies, primarily focusing on internal controls and risk assessments, financial statement preparation, financial system implementation, and evaluating agencies for audit readiness and compliance with internal control standards and generally accepted accounting principles.

In addition to client engagements, Melinda’s corporate leadership roles include serving on the Sikich LLP Executive Board and overseeing the Sikich federal audit practice.

Ms. DeCorte is an active member of the AGA (formerly known as the Association of Government Accountants) and she also served on the advisory council to the GAO in updating the Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government. She has authored several articles in the AGA Journal of Government Financial Management and the American Society of Military Comptrollers (ASMC) Armed Forces Comptroller. A former adjunct professor at the University of Virginia (introductory and intermediate accounting principles), Ms. DeCorte regularly speaks on ethics, audit, and internal control at professional development conferences and training seminars

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