Category: President’s Message

Mary Laufenbeg, CGFM, CPA
2015-16 President, Southern Wisconsin AGA Chapter

A new year is almost upon us and we have great AGA trainings set up for you as well as anniversaries to celebrate. Those dates are as follows:

• January 13 audio conference titled “Evidence Based Policy Making – Making the Right Decisions to Improve Programs” at a location to be determined.
• January 28 luncheon with our speaker, Andrew Justl from Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP on the annual tax updates at the Old Country Buffet
• February 3 members only webinar titled “Managing in a Multi-Generational Workplace”

We will be celebrating the National AGA’s 50th anniversary at an upcoming luncheon. Our historian is looking at ideas from the Southern Wisconsin AGA Chapter’s 25th anniversary. If you have any ideas to celebrate our chapter’s anniversary, please get back to me (fredmary6998@gmail.com) or David Mellem (david.mellem@oig.hhs.gov).

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Do More with Current Funding: Blending and Braiding Funds

AGA National offers 4 free webinars for members each year. Each is work 1 CPE. The first session was held August 12. If you missed it, you can catch the presentation slides on-line. The recording will be posted later (sorry, CPE during live event only). Log in at https://www.agacgfm.org/My-AGA/Sign-In.aspx. Click on Member Resources in the left panel. The information is in the center column.

While there, check out past webinar materials (some include the recording). Sample titles are:

• Introductory Level Approach to Turning the “Super Circular” into a User Friendly Tool
• Prevent, Detect and Mitigate Fraud in Your Organization
• The Federal Budget Process: How It Works from Conception to Programs”

 

President’s Message
Mary Laufenberg, CGFM, CPA

Hello everybody:

As the weather is cooling down and furnaces are being turned on, we also are heating up our continuing education. Don’t miss the education luncheon scheduled on November 12; the speaker is Scott Thornton and he will be speaking about OpenBook. This will be held at Vintage Brewing Company on Whitney Way. If you missed the last webinar, we have another webinar scheduled on December 2nd titled “Ethics in the WorkPlace” in the WHEDA
Conference Room at 201 W Washington Avenue. This session is free.

Hope you can make one of these education topics. If you have any questions on this message, feel free to contact me at 608/438-8338.

Take care and stay warm….

Mary Laufenberg, CGFM, CPA

Cooler weather is here with us now but hopefully we get a last crack at summer before winter arrives. I hope this newsletter finds you well and not too busy to consider attending one of our future luncheon meetings and/or webinars.

• “Fraud Prevention” scheduled on October 21 from 1 – 2:50 at the WHEDA 1st floor conference room, 201 W Washington Avenue
• November 12 is the next luncheon meeting. The topic meeting is “OpenBook Wisconsin” presented by Scott Thornton, DOA Division of Executive Budget and Finance, location yet to be determined.
• “Ethics in the Work Place” scheduled on December 2nd from 1 – 2:50 at the WHEDA 1st floor conference room, 201 W Washington Avenue

Also, it is the 50th anniversary for our Southern Wisconsin AGA Chapter. We are considering a special luncheon but we are open to suggestions.

If you have any suggestions for future topics for a luncheon meeting, please let me know at fredmary6998@gmail.com

Thank you

Mary Laufenberg, CGFM, CPA

Welcome to the new program year!

In May we held our annual AGA symposium which had a great panel of speakers and had a great turnout of attendees. The chapter board has gone through the comments from this event to see what we can do to improve it as well as doing the planning for next year’s educational events.

Did you know AGA offers members 4 free CPE events each year? Check out the article on page 7 of the newsletter September 2015 Footnotes and calendar of events to see when the next dates are. Be sure to take advantage of the membership value.

Enjoy the rest of summer….

Mary

President’s Message
Mary Laufenberg, CGFM, CPA

Thank you to all who came to the March lunch meeting. We had a wonderful March luncheon with a duo of speakers talking about the budgeting of the Madison Overture Center. At this luncheon, our Certified Government Financial Manager credential holders were honored with a free lunch. A picture was taken of the group holding the CGFM Month proclamations, signed by both Governor Walker and Mayor Soglin (see page 7 of the newsletter).

The Southern Wisconsin Chapter’s AGA Symposium is set for May 12 at Union South. Registration information is in the newsletter and the brochure is posted on our website www.aga-wis.org. We have a great panel of speakers scheduled to speak at this time and the deadline to register is April 29.

The Chapter is taking part in the MS Walk again this year. Feel free to donate or join the team at http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/WIGWalkEvents?team_id=409757&pg=team&fr_id=25586

 

President’s Message
Mary Laufenberg, CGFM, CPA

March is CGFM month!!

In recognition of this event, both the Madison mayor and the Wisconsin governor have issued proclamations to recognize this event. Congratulations to all the Southern Wisconsin Chapter individuals who have studied and passed their CGFM. We hope to see you at our upcoming March luncheon.

Be sure and watch for upcoming information regarding the Southern Wisconsin Chapter’s May AGA Symposium. We are currently finalizing the agenda and will soon be publishing it. We have a great panel of speakers lined up on May 12th. If you can attend that day, be sure and register early. Keep an eye on www.aga-wis.org or your e-mail inbox.

Hopefully our weather will start warming up to normal conditions. I am sure that most of you are ready for warmer temperatures.

Take care and stay warm.

Mary Laufenberg, CPA, CGFM
2014-15 President
Southern Wisconsin AGA Chapter

President’s Message
Mary Laufenberg, CGFM, CPA

 

WELCOME:
A lot of our winter days are gloomy days without sun. Without our sun, we sometimes loose our excitement and enthusiasm for work. To get that enthusiasm back and get out of your normal routine for just a little while, watch and sign up for our continuing education times through the AGA newsletter. The next education time is a two-hour web conference scheduled on February 18th titled “Fraud Prevention”. The board is also currently working on an agenda for the May Symposium. It is starting to look like we have a great start to this agenda so watch for this information when it gets posted.

We are blessed with great friends and great jobs. However, some individuals are not in that same place in life. That is why we continue to work on community service to help those in need. Please be sure to watch for those luncheons that are taking donations to help these groups. For your convenience, we also post a list of items that are appropriate to bring at those luncheons.

Stay focused in these gloomy days ahead of us and winter will soon be over. Take care, my friends.

Mary

Mary Laufenberg, CGFM, CPA

I hope everybody has had a safe holiday while traveling to their various events. The weather has definitely cooperated with all our travelers.

Just a reminder that the Annual Tax Update at the Imperial Garden East is scheduled on January 22nd.

A confirmed future monthly luncheon is as follows: John Pohlmann from DNR speaking about plans, budget and funding regarding the Badger Ammunition Plant scheduled on April 23rd. Other tentative speakers are still being arranged for our February 26th and March 26th luncheon dates.

Stay tuned to our future newsletters. I am hoping that we can again dodge the ice and snow for these future continuing education dates.

The board is planning the spring Symposium. If you have any suggestions on topics of speaker recommendations, please send them.

Mary Laufenberg, CGFM, CPA

We have a great lunch meeting scheduled for you this month. On November 20th, Joe Chrisman, State Auditor, will be speaking to us. The title of his presentation is “The Audit Bureau at Work- We Are Here to Help!”

Also a two-hour audio conference is scheduled on December 10 titled ” How do you Spell Success? E-T-H-I-C-S!” to be held at the Department of Health Services.

Our chapter will participate and support community service donations for November; see our newsletter announcement below for a list of those items.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Dave Mellem, membership chair, me, or any other board member.

Mary Laufenberg, CGFM, CPA

We have started off the year a little slower than we would have liked, but we have a lot planned for you for training opportunities.

We have confirmed a speaker for our November 20 luncheon meeting: Joe Chrisman, Wisconsin State Auditor. At that luncheon, he will be highlighting recent audit findings, how state agencies can be proactive and how to keep off their list. We also have several webinars planned for this year as well. Watch for our future newsletters for additional information.

If you have any questions on anything AGA related, feel free to contact any of the board members or myself.

Mary Laufenberg, CGFM, CPA