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June 2003 |
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It is the Newsletter
Committee’s goal to provide timely, educational and relevant information to
the VGFOA members. Participation of
the VGFOA members in providing feedback, writing relevant articles and/or
providing other information to further the goals of the Newsletter Committee
is strongly encouraged. Please visit
the VGFOA website at www.vgfoa.org;
contact VGFOA Board members or contact Newsletter Committee members for
additional information and/or feedback. Newsletter Issues: March, June,
September and December. |
President’s Message – Joe Casey
I guess that old adage “Time flies when your having fun” rings true, even in serving as a VGFOA President. With only ~ 3 months remaining in my term as President, I have tried serving the organization in continuing its focus on some of the initiatives originated over recent years (e.g., certificate program, vendor relations, collaborating organizations) and brainstorming about new initiatives to better serve the membership (e.g., expanded Executive Secretary role, focus groups, “alumni” programs, strategic committee structuring). All of these initiatives I dubbed “the seven goals” and I’m proud to state that on behalf the entire Board, each of whom is vested in serving you, the member, we have worked to make the organization a viable entity for which all Virginia public sector fiscal-related positions can use as a resource in enriching their position, career and friendships. It also gives me great pleasure to know that the Board will continue to work towards its mission of being “the premier organization in developing governmental and financial leaders”. This hopefully will include the continuation of prior and current initiatives, while also fostering ideas to better serve the members.
I
am pleased with how the structure of the VGFOA Board provides the opportunity
for a Vice-President and President-elect to serve the VGFOA Board through a
starting committee assignment and then towards the progression to President.
This model of board management is a popular concept with many boards in the
non-profit sector and the result is usually less volatile transitions, vested
officers in their duties and continuity of initiatives that have been
formulated throughout the previous years. In Larry Clark as your
President-Elect and Phil Grant as your Vice-President, you have two individuals
who have served the VGFOA for many years and the Board over the past 3 years or
so. It gives me great comfort that many of the initiatives and ideals that are
in process or recently accomplished are tasks that the entire Board worked
together towards and that future Boards will continue to work on implementing
or amending current initiatives for the betterment of the organization. Having
said that, we are always looking for prospective members and focus on those
individuals who have served in committee roles, so please consider serving the
VGFOA through a committee role.
In
these days of tighter fiscal times, we are often asked by our elected
officials, administrators and/or citizens to formulate cost reduction and/or
revenue enhancement strategies, while also developing performance-related
models that illustrate that our governmental entity is both highly efficient
and effective. We all know that you can be efficient without being effective or
effective without being efficient, but there is an art and a science in
developing a structure that clearly illustrates how efficiency and
effectiveness are both needed to provide the best return of the taxpayer’s
dollar. As we are in the off-season of budgeting, it would be great to see any
models that may have been formulated that we at the VGFOA can offer to our
membership via future newsletters and/or educational sessions. I offer this topic
up as an exercise in trying to tap our membership at-large as well as
encouraging the regional focus group concept as a practical and useful exercise
in time for the practitioner. There are numerous other topics like this that
the VGFOA can serve as a conduit in trying to tap the membership at-large to
share its experiences and expertise with other members. If you have any other
topical areas that you wish to see further discussed and shared, please let me
or any other member of the VGFOA Board know.
I
am constantly amazed of the learning experiences that are found at work, on the
VGFOA Board and many of the other venues of community service. I look forward
to continuing in all of these aspects. It reminds me of a speech I gave
recently at my mother’s retirement dinner for her 40 years in the teaching
profession. “In
retrospect, perhaps this innocent exchange between a mother and child after the
child’s first day of school says it all: The mother asks Johnny, "What did
you learn today? "Johnny replies, "Not enough. I have to go back
tomorrow."” Well the VGFOA is a strong learning organization, so please
feel free to “Come back tomorrow” for opportunities for learning and
fellowship.
I
want to thank you again for the opportunity to serve you and look forward to
working further with you. If you have any desire to get involved please contact
myself, Judy Gough or any member of the VGFOA Board and we would be delighted
to best utilize your time and efforts.
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS
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June 16-17, 2003 |
Introductory Accounting |
Charlottesville, VA |
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August 18, 2003 |
MD&A Workshop |
Fredericksburg, VA |
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October 29-31, 2003 |
Fall Annual Conference |
Charlottesville, VA |
**More classes coming soon in preparation for the VGFOA VGFOC
program. Please visit our website at www.vgfoa.org for additional information.**
VGFOA Executive Board October 2002 - October 2003
Officers:
President: Joseph P.
Casey, Director of Finance
and Management Services, County of Hanover.
Tele#: (804) 365-6015. Email: jcasey@co.hanover.va.us
President-Elect: Larry D.
Clark, Assistant County
Administrator, County of King George.
Tele#: (540) 775-9181. Email: lclark@kinggeorge.state.va.us
Vice President: Phil
Grant, Director of Finance, Town
of Vienna.
Tele#: (703) 255-6320. Email: finance@ci.vienna.va.us
Executive Secretary-Treasurer: Judy Gough
Tele#: (866) 208-7025. E-mail: jgough@hoos.net
Directors/ Chairpersons:
Awards and Membership Committee: Jo Ellen Kerns, Senior Budget
Analyst, County of Loudoun.
Tele#: (703) 777-0178. Email: jkerns@loudoun.gov
Education Committee: Rebecca Owens, Director of Finance, County
of Roanoke.
Tele#: (540) 772-2020, Ext. 327. Email: rowens@co.roanoke.va.us
Ronald
DeWitt, Accounting Manager,
City of Newport News.
Tele#: (757) 926-8439. Email: rdewitt@nngov.com
Newsletter Committee: Terry S. Adams, Utility Controller, County of
Hanover. Tele#:
(804) 365-6016. Email: tsadams@co.hanover.va.us
Govt.
Finance Research Committee: Marycarol C.
White, Director of
Financial & Management Svcs.,
County of York. Tele#: (757) 890-3737. Email: white@yorkcounty.gov
Technology Committee: Raoul James
Kister, Finance Director, Albemarle County Service Authority. Tele#:
(434) 977-4511, Ext. 107. Email: rjkister@acsanet.com
Past President: William E. Johnson,
Director of Finance, City of
Colonial Heights.
Tele#: (804) 520-9261. Email: johnsonw@colonial-heights.com
State Representative: Shelley Carmichael, Assistant
Director of Finance, County of Stafford.
Tele#: (540) 658-8692. Email: scarmichael@co.stafford.va.us
Need
the legislative information? www.vaco.org – Virginia Association of Counties www.vml.org – Virginia Municipal League www.state.va.us – Commonwealth of Virginia http://www.vipnet.org/portal/government/index.htm
– Code of Virginia
Fall Conference Update – Joe
Casey:
VGFOA COMMITTEE REPORTS
AWARDS & MEMBERSHIP
COMMITTEE – Jo Ellen Kerns:
The VGFOA annual scholarship to the GFOA's Advanced Government Finance Institute in Madison, Wisconsin was given in an unusual way this year. We held a drawing at the spring conference in Virginia Beach for any full member who was interested in attending and had approximately 20 members who dropped their business cards into the fishbowl. Samantha Comer from New Market was the winner, but she will be unable to attend. Another selection was drawn and Carl Green with the City of Alexandria won. We will ask Carl to provide a short discussion during the luncheon at the fall conference about the experiences he will have in Wisconsin. Ari Sky from Loudoun won last year and still talks about his Karaoke endeavors. One of the main purposes of VGFOA is to provide educational opportunities, and we are happy to be able through our scholarship program to assist our members to attend such well-known programs. We are always open to suggestions for other educational programs which we could consider including in our scholarship listing.
EDUCATION COMMITTEE –
Rebecca Owens & Ron Dewitt:
Spring Education Calendar
The VGFOA Education Committee and Radford
University hosted many educational programs over the past several months:
- The Intermediate Governmental Accounting class was offered in
Hampton on April 21-22, 2003. Thanks to Donna Hildebrand and
Ron DeWitt for coordinating this class.
- The GASB 34 Conversion Workshop was offered in Christiansburg,
VA in May 2003. Thanks to Angie Hill for coordinating this workshop.
Calendar
The VGFOA Education Committee and Radford
University are in the process of planning future educational offerings. If you
have specific training needs, please contact Rebecca Owens (rowens@co.roanoke.va.us) or Ron
Dewitt (rdewitt@nngov.com).
New
Members
Welcome Meera Phaltankar, Accountant II for the City of
Chesapeake as
a new member of the Education Committee.
We appreciate your interest in VGFOA and your willingness to help meet
the educational needs of the organization.
GOVERNMENT FINANCE &
RESEARCH COMMITTEE – Marycarol White:
GASB has issued four press releases since the
first of January announcing the publication of two exposure drafts, two
statements, and one technical bulletin.
Below is a synopsis of each.
NEWS RELEASE 02/20/03 - The Governmental
Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has published two Exposure Drafts of proposed
Statements on financial reporting of postemployment benefits. They are Accounting and Financial
Reporting by Employers for Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions and Financial
Reporting for Postemployment Benefit Plans Other Than Pension Plans. The proposed guidance is expected to produce
greater transparency for decision-makers who rely on state and local
governments’ financial statements.
Under the proposed accounting change, governments
would:
- measure the cost of benefits, and recognize Other Post-Employment
Benefits (OPEB) expense on the accrual basis of accounting in periods that
approximate employees’ years of service;
- provide information about the actuarial accrued liabilities for
promised benefits associated with past services and whether, or to what
extent, those benefits have been funded; and
- provide information useful in assessing potential demands on the
employer’s future cash flows.
The companion Exposure Draft would establish
uniform financial reporting standards for OPEB plans and would supersede the
previously issued interim guidance.
NEWS RELEASE 03/27/03 - In an effort to
provide the public with better information about the risks that could
potentially impact a government’s ability to provide services and pay its
debts, the GASB has published Statement No. 40, Deposit and Investment Risk
Disclosures, an amendment of GASB Statement No. 3. The Statement amends GASB Statement No. 3, Deposits
with Financial Institutions, Investments (including Repurchase Agreements), and
Reverse Repurchase Agreements and addresses additional risks to which
governments are exposed.
The new accounting guidance requires that state
and local governments communicate key information about deposit and investment
risks, frequently one of the largest assets on a government’s balance
sheet. Under Statement 40, state and
local governments are required to disclose information covering four principal
areas:
- Investment credit risk disclosures, including credit quality
information issued by rating agencies;
- Interest rate disclosures that include investment maturity information,
such as weighted average maturities or specification identification of the
securities;
- Interest rate sensitivity for investments that are highly
sensitive to changes in interest rates (example, inverse floaters,
enhanced variable-rate investments and certain asset-backed securities);
and
- Foreign exchange exposures that would indicate the foreign
investment’s denomination.
The provisions of Statement 40 are effective for
financial statements for periods beginning after June 15, 2004. Earlier application is encouraged.
NEWS RELEASE 04/02/03 - In an effort to
improve disclosures about the risks associated with derivative contracts, the
GASB has released for public comment accounting guidance that would provide
more consistent reporting by state and local governments. The proposed Technical Bulletin, Disclosure
Requirements for Derivatives Not Presented at Fair Value on the Statement of
Net Assets, is designed to increase the public’s understanding of the
significance of derivatives to a government’s net assets and would provide key
information about the potential effects on future cash flows.
Governments would be required to disclose the
derivative’s objective, its terms, fair value and risks. The proposed accounting guidance would
require governments to disclose in their financial statements credit risk,
interest rate risk, basis risk, termination risk, rollover risk and market
access risk.
The Technical Bulletin would be effective for
periods ending after June 15, 2003.
NEWS RELEASE 05/20/03 - The GASB has issued
Statement No. 14, Budgetary Comparison Schedule – Perspective Differences,
that clarifies existing guidance on budgetary comparisons in GASB Statement No.
34, Basic Financial Statements – and Management’s Discussion and Analysis – for
State and Local Governments.
This amendment applies to governments with
budgetary structures (for example, certain program-based budgets) that prevent
them from presenting budgetary comparison information for their general funds
and major special revenue funds, as currently required by Statement 34. Under Statement 41, such governments will
present budgetary comparison schedules as required supplementary information
based on the fund, organization or program structure that the government uses
for its legally adopted budget.
Generally governments should present budgetary comparisons for the
activities that are reported in the general fund and each major special revenue
fund.
The accounting change is being implemented simultaneously
with Statement 34. For governments
that already have implemented Statement 34, the requirements would be effective
for periods beginning after June 15, 2002.
The above information was obtained from the
Governmental Accounting Standards Board website at www.gasb.org. Copies of all GASB statements and Technical
Bulletins may be obtained by telephoning the GASB Order Department at
800-748-0659 or online.
NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE – Terry
Adams:
Welcome to the following new committee members: Mickey Kwiatkowki with Stafford
County, Kathy Sobczak with Henrico County and Kathy Sparks with the City of
Colonial Heights. Our new members have
hit the ground running by contributing articles to this issue. For additional information or suggestions
for the newsletter, please contact me at (804) 365-6016.
SPECIAL FEATURES
GASB34 – Shelley Carmichael:
For those of you that are going to be implementing
the new reporting model for your FY2003 CAFRs, the good news is that there’s
lots of help available. Listed below
are the 34 localities that have already implemented.
