President’s Message – October 2013

SherriVoigtWe have two training opportunities for you this month: our regular lunch meeting on October 17 and a two-hour audio conference on October 23. Both topics are grant-related and I hope you will take the opportunity to check them both out.

Our Chapter will host a Komen
“Passionately Pink for the Cure” event as part of the October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign. We will do this on conjunction with the October 17 lunch meeting. See page 6 for some FAQ. Anyone who would like to donate can use this link or bring a donation to the lunch meeting. Anyone who donates $5 or more will receive a pin. All lunch attendees will be entered in a drawing for a scarf (prize donated to the chapter.) So, break out your pink and wear it on the 17th!

If you would just like more information on risk factors and prevention, please visit http://ww5.komen.org/breastcancer/loweryourrisk.html

We are still collecting socks for the Salvation Army Homeless and Community Shelters. We had a lot of success at the September lunch and wanted to give people a chance to bring any they may have forgotten to bring in. We will deliver them after the lunch meeting.

I would like to draw your attention to just one more thing in the newsletter. Our
“20/20/20” Recruitment Campaign was xtremely popular last year. If you have ever considered joining AGA, please take a look at the article on page 8. It features all the benefits of joining, from the current $20 rebate offer to the discounted training fees to the free lunch after joining. Feel free to contact David Mellem, membership chair, me, or any board member with questions.

Sherri Voigt, CGFM, CPA

President’s Message – September 2013

SherriVoigtWelcome to the new AGA program year. We have the entire fall lunch meeting schedule updated for speaker/topic information already. Take a look at the Calendar of Events on page 11 of the September Footnotes or on our website.

For 2014, we had a goal of increasing CPE opportunities for the membership. We will be offering 4 live audio conferences this year. We tried to pick from different topic areas to hit on items that would appeal to the most people. These are all included on the Calendar of Events, and more details will be announced ahead. AGA National conducts the audio conferences and they are worth 2 CPE each.

If you were to attend all events listed on our calendar, you would earn 20 CPE!

As always, if you have any suggestions for speakers, topics, or locations, please feel free to contact Education Chair Mary Laufenberg or myself at any time. It is never too soon to start our process for developing the Symposium agenda!

I hope to see you at the September lunch!

PDC Training Event: Big Challenges. Bigger Solutions.

PDC Training Event: Big Challenges. Bigger Solutions.

July 14-17| Dallas | 24 CPE Hours | Register Now

This week, D.C.-based, Federal News Radio, featured the ‘Rise of the Money People’. The stories are in celebration of YOU!

“Financial management moves front and center as agencies make the final assault on wasted billions,” zeros in on CFOs and their soldiers who are in the financial wars, their strategies and tactics for waging the fight, the current and emerging weapons in their arsenal and how their future battles will unfold.” Read more

Circumstances are tough and heroes like you need to constantly train to stay on top of the best practices and lessons needed to advance government accountability. Join us in Dallas for our premier national training event. This year, the PDC will explore the enormous fiscal challenges facing our nation and offer innovative solutions to solve them.

Training Webinar: Citizen-Centric Reports – Communicating to Your Constituents

From AGA eNews:

Webinar: Citizen-Centric Reports – Communicating to Your Constituents

April 24 | 2-4 p.m. EDT
Communicating to the public remains a difficult task for governmental entities. To assist this effort, AGA created the Citizen-Centric Reporting (CCR) initiative. In 2006, we developed a template for entities to place the most important financial and performance information into an easy-to-understand four-page document. The four pages give citizens the information they should know about the jurisdiction. The citizens that require more information are led to the entity’s website through helpful links.

AGA will host a complimentary webinar led by two CCR preparers offering their first-hand experience in the preparation of their reports.

Speakers:

  • Kim Wallin, Nevada State Controller. Her office has prepared several CCRs. She will explain the CCR creation process, how it has evolved, and also how her office uses the report to communicate to the citizens.
  • Stephen Marshall, finance director, Syracuse City, Utah, recently prepared its first CCR. He will explain their process, why his leadership wanted to prepare the document, and how they plan to use it in the future.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from these practitioners!