The AGA Weblog

2009 AGA Government Finance Case Challenge Results

By: Jennifer I. Curtin, MPA

Jennifer I. Curtin, MPA, is AGA’s Director of Public Affairs.

AGA would like to congratulate The University of North Carolina at Pembroke as the top award recipient in AGA’s Second Government Finance Case Challenge. The Pembroke team, along with the other finalist, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, made 25-minute presentations last week at the National Leadership Conference on designing a Citizen-Centric Report for a fictitious city in North Carolina. A panel of judges chose team members Brenda Eldridge, Sean Deruntz and Jeremiah Wyler as making an outstanding presentation. They receive a free one-year membership to AGA and cash prizes.

The best undergraduate accounting/financial management/business students in the country were invited to compete in the challenge beginning in October 2008. Student teams collaboratively analyzed and constructed a four-page, Citizen-Centric Report. Members of the two highest-scoring teams received a scholarship to attend AGA's National Leadership Conference (NLC), held last Thursday and Friday in Washington, D.C.

The experience challenged students' moral reasoning, raised their awareness of the importance of government accountability and may have opened their minds to a future career in government. Since only a handful of colleges and universities in the U.S. offer governmental accounting courses that aren’t confined to just one chapter of a book, AGA wanted to find a way to reach out to students. Seventeen schools registered and submitted responses to the case this year and a dozen other schools asked if the case could be used as a teaching example.

Federal, state and local governments are facing enormous challenges. The students from the two finalist teams were able to learn about the government financial management community’s responsibilities and challenges while attending the NLC. It was also refreshing to witness the students from the two teams demonstrate their newfound knowledge about performance reporting. They learned that it is not always about the numbers. It is about communicating the meaning of the numbers to the populous.

Using AGA’s citizen-centric reporting template, the teams went outside of their accounting comfort zone to take a body of financial information and present it in a four-page template that the average taxpayer would understand. Members of both teams remarked that they learned a lot and that they have a newfound respect for the enormity of the tasks that government financial managers must perform.

The timing of the case finals was remarkable because President Obama had just signed the American Recovery and Investment Act. As a result, the students were able to see and hear from a variety of federal, state and local government leaders, who must now figure out how to monitor, distribute and report on $575 billion quickly.

AGA’s Case Challenge continues to receive positive feedback from educators and student participants. We have partnered with the honors accounting society, Beta Alpha Psi, to promote the competition, but we’re always looking for additional ways to spread the word to schools across the country. Do you have any suggestions for AGA? This challenge has the potential to make new connections between accounting students and the government financial management community. How should we move forward?

Getting College Students Interested in Government Financial Management

By: Jennifer Curtin, MPA

Jennifer Curtin is AGA’s Director of Public Affairs. She is also one of the Association’s liaisons to its emerging leader member group and she coordinates AGA’s Government Finance Case Challenge every year.

As David Walker likes to say, the federal debt crisis is “a lot worse than advertised.” There’s another worse-than-advertised issue facing the accountability profession today, and while it’s not as catastrophic as the one that has the full attention of the former comptroller general, it’s just as real.

It’s a talent deficit. It’s a deficit of young leaders to help our country make the tough decisions needed to control the ballooning $50 trillion federal debt. It’s a deficit in energy, creativity and new ideas to tackle the huge array of issues government financial managers face: assessing performance, increasing efficiency and transforming government processes through technology, to name just a few.

If there’s ever been a time to consider a career in government financial management, it’s now. The problem is, government careers are not even a blip on the radar screens of most accounting students. In fact, many accounting students aren’t even exposed to governmental accounting in their coursework, nor are they encouraged to think about the rewards and challenges that can be found in public service. Why? Perhaps it’s because the number of government accounting professors is few and getting fewer every year as these experts retire. Perhaps it’s because accounting programs have traditionally focused on Big Four or regional accounting firms as the first career stop for their students, and that’s just how it’s always been.

The reasons for the government talent deficit can be debated, but AGA is doing something about it. Chapters around the country are putting their members out there—they go to career fairs, visit with professors and other university officials, mentor college students and speak to accounting classes.

The AGA National Office started the Government Finance Case Challenge (www.agacgfm.org/challenge), which pits student teams against each other to solve a government performance management issue. Last year, the competition attracted 12 university teams, with the team from the University of Texas at Dallas judged the best. This year, the case centers on how a U.S. city government should implement a performance management system. The idea is to get students excited about a government career. The cash prizes and friendly competition may get students involved initially, but in the end, they may look at public service as the best place to learn and grow.

These efforts, and many others not listed here, add up in a big way. We’re getting the message out: check out the opportunities, students! For one thing, government agencies are hiring. A huge wave of retirements is hitting governments at all levels, and they’re looking for young leaders. Experts say that the federal government is facing its biggest hiring crisis ever. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management says that by 2012, more than half the current work force will be gone.

Let’s work together to bust the myths that government work is overly traditional and bureaucratic. Governments are becoming more competitive with the private sector, offering telecommuting, flex time or part-time options. The pay is better than most college students think it is. Some federal agencies are even offering signing bonuses. Some governments will help repay student loans; many pay for training and certification.

Citizens who rely on government services—and that’s all of us—will suffer if critical government finance positions are not filled with top talent. Consider the words of David Ellwood, dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, who told Newsweek: “It’s absolutely vital to get spectacular people into government.” Bottom-line: How do we get today’s accounting, finance and business students interested in government financial management?

Are We Doing Enough to Develop Future AGA Leaders?

By: Kelly Stefanko, CPA

Kelly Stefanko, CPA, is the Deputy City Auditor, City of Norfolk, VA. She chairs AGA’s National Emerging Leaders Focus Group and serves as a member of the National Executive Committee.

AGA’s challenge to recruit, develop, motivate and retain key talent to meet its leadership needs is never ending. As younger leaders take over, their generationally-shaped workplace habits, attitudes and values will reshape the organization. In this second blog installment on what AGA is doing to help ensure we have a well-stocked legion of leaders, we pose the question—are we doing enough?

Believing in the value of its professional development conferences to develop loyalty and a sense of engagement, AGA has made a substantial investment in making it possible for more emerging leaders to attend through the PDC hotel scholarship offered to every AGA chapter. Scholarship awardees are expected to attend the Emerging Leaders Session on Sunday, July 27, at 1 p.m. All PDC attendees are welcome. The first hour of the session will allow for introductions and a great opportunity for a participative brainstorming and feedback session of the Emerging Leaders focus group.

The Emerging Leaders focus group is AGA’s national sounding board for generation x and y thinking. Usually, the group holds a conference call on the first Wednesday of the month to offer opinions and insight for an hour on a specific topic near and dear to AGA. If you belong to generation x or y and it sounds like something you want to participate in, simply e-mail Jessica Jones at jjones@agacgfm.org. Fresh voices and ideas are always welcomed!

Today, there’s a bonus way for your voice to be heard—simply add your comments to this blog!

The AGA Blog is a great example of a potential topic of a focus group discussion for generation x and y members

• Has the AGA Blog become or do you foresee it becoming part of your daily routine? Why/why not?

• Do you have friends or coworkers in your generation that read blogs dealing with their profession daily?

Similarly, we’re curious what are generation x and y members perceptions of the CGFM—is it something you’re interested in?

Knowing why or why not, which can be different from one generation to another, can have a huge impact on the how AGA markets its products and services.

Past focus group meetings have solicited innovative ideas on:

• How to better recruit/retain Early Career members and how AGA can build loyalty with them

• AGA opportunities for mentoring

• AGA’s investment in recruiting full-time college students

Ideas generated in focus group discussions have already started to take action. For instance, in response to the desire for more informal mentoring opportunities at large conferences, AGA is arranging to have reserved tables at the PDC’s Monday luncheon, which will give those on emerging leaders hotel scholarship the opportunity to meet, talk with and learn from AGA leaders, such as National Executive Committee members and Past National Presidents and Treasurers.

So, what do you think about all of this focus on developing “emerging leaders”? Is AGA on the right path or is there a different avenue we should be taking?

Can you suggest an alternative way of referring to AGA’s current and future leaders who are in their 20s and 30s?

Is “emerging leaders” too similar and therefore cause confusion with the AGA label “early careers”?

AGA is YOUR organization. I’m looking forward to hearing what YOU think!

Changing the Face of AGA to Appeal to Generations X and Y

By: Kelly Stefanko, CPA

Kelly Stefanko, CPA, a member of AGA’s Virginia Peninsula Chapter, is the deputy city auditor, City of Norfolk, VA. She chairs AGA’s National Emerging Leaders Focus Group and serves as a member of the National Executive Committee.

AGA’s challenge to recruit, develop, motivate and retain key talent to meet its leadership needs is never ending. As younger leaders take over, their generationally-shaped workplace related habits, attitudes and values will reshape the organization. AGA should prepare itself for change.

Over the years through trial and error, the AGA National Office has accumulated a great deal of experience in what has and hasn’t worked with early career programming and has been responsive in tweaking its offerings accordingly. Great programs and incentives aimed at early careers already exist, some better known and used than others. While all chapters don’t have access to large populations of young professionals, all do face the challenge of succession planning and recruiting and developing new leaders.

Is being mindful of generational differences the way to attract future leaders? AGA thinks so and has ensured it keeps its ear on the pulse of 20- and 30-year-olds by establishing the National Emerging Leaders focus group. The focus group, which debuted March 5, provides younger members with a rare opportunity to be involved with AGA at the national level. In turn, they are charged not only to brainstorm ideas for how AGA‘s can better recruit and retain members from Generation X (currently aged 42 to 27) and Generation Y (currently aged 27 or younger) but also to help implement their suggestions by taking action on them at home in their local chapters. The focus group members, in becoming more invested in AGA, are a visible “front edge” of a new generation of leaders for the organization (coined “emerging leaders”).

What are some characteristics of the youngest generation in today’s work force (those 30 and younger)?

• High expectations of self: They aim to work faster and better than other workers.
• High expectations of employers: They want fair and direct managers who are highly engaged in their professional development.
• Ongoing learning: They seek out creative challenges and view colleagues as vast resources from whom to gain knowledge.
• Immediate responsibility: They want to make an important impact on day one.
• Goal-oriented: They want small goals with tight deadlines so they can build up ownership of tasks.
• Technology reliant and savvy: They communicate efficiently and quickly using electronic devices.

So, is it possible to market AGA as a collaborator to challenge the status quo, an avenue to gain self fulfillment, a constant in a workplace that might change many times over for some, an opportunity for volunteers who can only commit to short term leadership assignments and a leading edge user of technology so as to appeal to a younger generation? If so, how do we do it and what does it look like?

Is AGA’s investment in marketing to young people better aimed at new hires, more vested in the government with an existing job, than to college students who may not end up working in the government industry?

How can AGA quickly build value with young members who may not have the opportunity to attend its professional development conferences so they are apt to renew, particularly if membership costs them twice as much if they’re aging out of “early career” status and into full membership?

What are AGA’s competitors NOT providing that AGA should capitalize on in attempting to attract and retain young members?

Should AGA’s national conferences include a mentoring opportunity for first time attendees to be matched with a veteran conference go-er who can help make introductions and provide a model for networking techniques?

Younger people may be regulars at social networking through sites such as MySpace and Facebook, but are they “plugged-in” with blogs, such as this one?

These are the types of questions we’re posing to the Emerging Leaders Focus Group. What is your opinion on them? Let’s hear from you!

TOMORROW: Jesse Hughes, Ph.D., CGFM, International Consultant, on "Adoption by the U.S. of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards"

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