Advanced Internal Controls in Government Training Workshop


This event qualifies for .7 CEUs

This event qualifies for 7 CPEs

This event qualifies for 7 CLPs


Workshop Overview:

In anticipation of the revised OMB Circular No. A-123 being issued early in Calendar Year 2016, this will be an advanced level internal control workshop focusing on the draft requirements that defines management’s responsibility for internal control with an emphasis on integrating Enterprise Risk Management (ERM).  


OMB Circular No. A-123 and the statute it implements, the Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) of 1982, are at the center of Federal requirements to improve accountability in Federal programs and operations. A re-examination of the existing internal control requirements, originally issued in December 2004, for Federal agencies was initiated in light of the new Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government (better known as the Green Book) issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on September 10, 2014. The revised OMB Circular No. A-123 enhances the existing internal control framework to provide for stronger risk management, an enhanced governance model and improve operational efficiency.


This workshop is designed for the front-line practitioner, manager, or executive who is responsible for sustaining an effective internal controls program and who is charged in implementing the updated requirements of OMB A-123, including elements of ERM.


With limited resources, federal agencies are focused on administering internal control programs that are efficient and effective, avoiding duplication and minimizing the burden on staff.  With several new requirements issued within the last two years around strengthening internal controls, risk management and fraud risk assessments; it is even more important to avoid duplication of efforts.


Participants will learn how to efficiently and effectively strengthen an internal control program while complying with the new requirements of OMB A-123, GAO Green Book, GAO Fraud Risk Assessment and ERM.  Participants will also gain an understanding of the evolution of internal controls, learn about emerging trends and best practices, and gain an understanding of a practical approach to assessing internal controls using a Governance, Risk and Compliance methodology. We will present very practical information about the federal government’s requirements for internal control programs, and offer insight on integration, risk assessment, testing, and reporting. The focus of this workshop will be on efficiently meeting the updated internal control and risk management requirements.

 

What You Will Learn: 
  • Practical Information from Practitioners – Not Theory
  • Presentations by experts with extensive, practical experience in DoD and Civilian Agencies
  • Information which will help you to plan for and implement the updated requirements of OMB Circular A-123
  • What the updates means and how to implement the new requirements
  • How the Green Book fits into the new A-123 requirements
  • Risk Management – how much is enough?
  • GAO Fraud Guide – discussion on this requirement and how it fits into internal control reviews
     
Who Should Attend: 

This workshop is limited to government employees only to permit candid discussion

  • Financial management professionals
  • Internal controls program managers and team members
  • Program management professionals with internal controls responsibilities
  • Auditors
  • Internal controls steering committee members
  • Inspectors General and Staff
  • Chief Financial Officers and Staff
  • Chief Information Officers and Staff
  • Risk Management Staff
  • Chief Human Capital Officers, HR Managers and Staff
  • Managers, Directors and Senior Officials who have fiduciary or financial responsibilities
Format: 
  • Presentations by experts on Sarbanes-Oxley, A-123, FMFIA, FISMA, FFMIA and Green Book
  • Discussions led by experienced government and public accounting experts

Government Employees: (Federal, State, or Local Government Issued ID).

Early Bird Registration Fee: $895 until January 30th

Registration Fee: $995 after January 30th

 

Team “Learn Together” Rate:

2nd  person (and all other subsequent group members) from same office receives a $200 reduction off their registration.

 

Fee includes instruction, presentations, Training Workshop Notebook, and continental breakfasts, morning and afternoon refreshments, and hosted luncheon.

 

This Workshop is Limited To Government Employees Only to Permit Candid Discussion. The Press and Industry are NOT invited to register for this workshop.

Speaker and Presenter Information

Keynote Speaker: 
Mark Reger

Deputy Controller,

Office of Federal Financial Management (OFFM),

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

 

Mark Reger serves as the Interim Controller at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Mr. Reger detailed to OMB as the Interim Controller in March 2014, and since then he has been responsible for coordinating OMB's efforts to initiate government-wide improvements in all areas of financial management, including financial reporting, internal controls, grants management, financial systems, improper payments, and real property management. He also serves as the OMB representative on the FASAB

 

Mr. Reger is the Deputy Assistant Secretary Accounting Policy, Office of the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, Department of the Treasury. He has oversight responsibility for the consolidation and publishing of the Financial Report of the U.S. Government and the new Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation.

 

Prior to joining the Office of the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, Mr. Reger served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from 2007 through May 2010. As CFO, he led OPM’s financial management operations including accounting, payroll processing, budget, financial policy, financial systems, strategic planning and coordination, performance and evaluation, internal control activities and OPM’s President’s Management Agenda program. Prior to joining OPM, Mr. Reger held leadership positions in federal, state and local government. He served as the CFO of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Chairman of the Small Agency Council Finance Committee. At FCC, he was responsible for the compilation of the Agency’s first auditable financial statements which received an unqualified opinion. Before coming to Washington, D.C. he spent 20 years in Maryland government, serving in a series of senior management positions including CFO of the Maryland Department of Agriculture and culminating in his position as the Chief Deputy Treasurer of Maryland. Mark briefly served as a Deputy Treasurer for Baltimore County Public Schools and was responsible for the security and information technology functions of one of the largest school systems in the nation. He also served as a Deputy Treasurer for the District of Columbia responsible for banking and financial services.

 

Mr. Reger is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Maryland. He has been a member of the Senior Executive Service since 1998 and graduated from the Federal Executive Institute in 1999. Mr. Reger was granted a Henry Toll Fellowship by the Council of State Governments in 1994 and is a 2005 graduate of the executive leadership program of Said Business School in Oxford, England.

 
Guest Speakers: 
Grant Simmons

Senior Auditor for Financial Management and Assurance

Government Accountability Office (GAO)

 

Mr. Simmons is a Senior Auditor for the Financial Management and Assurance team at the Government Accountability Office (GAO).  His areas of responsibility have included financial statement audits of government entities, credit reform accounting, auditing standards, and, most recently Standards of Internal Control for the Federal Government (Green Book).  Mr. Simmons graduated from Loyola University of Maryland and worked in public accounting for a number of years before joining GAO in 2009 as part of the first year audit of the Office of Financial Stability (TARP).

 
Cynthia Vitters

Chief Risk Officer (CRO),

Federal Student Aid (FSA),

Department of Education (DOE)

 

Cynthia Jasper Vitters is the Director of the Risk Analysis & Reporting Division in the Risk Management Office of the Department of Education’s (US-ED) Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA). She joined the Risk Management group in January 2006 to establish what is believed to be the first formally recognized enterprise risk management program in the Federal government.

 

Cynthia has over 19 years of experience with the Federal government. Her areas of expertise include enterprise risk management, performance audits of education programs and operations, compliance audits, and the administration of the FSA programs.

 

Prior to joining FSA, Cynthia spent eight years with the US-ED Office of Inspector General managing internal performance audits of multi-billion dollar federally funded education programs and audits of colleges’ and universities’ administration of Title IV programs. Cynthia also spent several years with US-ED’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer where she focused on projects aimed at government re-engineering.

 

Cynthia earned her B.A. in Government from Franklin & Marshall College and M.B.A with a concentration in Accounting from Georgia State University. She is also a graduate of the Senior Executive Fellows Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She speaks regularly on the topic of ERM implementation in the federal government and co-authored a chapter of the book, “Managing Risk In Government: A Guide for Government Decision Makers.”

 
Bruce Edwards MPA, CIA

Chief Audit Executive

DOT-Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

 

Mr. Bruce Edwards is the Chief Audit Executive for the Department of Transportation – Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration who has 28 years managing internal audit operations in the private industry, federal and state governments. In his career, Mr. Edwards has established Internal Audit Divisions within the federal government and the state of Maryland, most currently at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Bruce has managed audit engagements related to acquisition fraud, information systems, government credit card fraud, unearned compensatory/overtime which resulted from performing operational and compliance examinations. He holds a degree in Accounting from Morgan State University, Earl Graves School of Business, Master’s degree in Public Administration from American University, and he is a Certified Internal Auditor. Also, Bruce has been recognized for his ability to train audit staff while extending “lessons learned” experiences to his peers.

 
Instructors: 
Wendy Morton-Huddleston

Principal – Grant Thornton LLP

 

Wendy Morton-Huddleston is a Principal at Grant Thornton LLP.  She has over seventeen years of professional experience in project management, Federal financial management, business process improvement, internal controls, and enterprise risk management.  Wendy’s client base encompasses C-level executives in the public sector and not-for-profit organizations.  Wendy is a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) and Project Management Professional (PMP).  

 

Wendy has led the annual “Best Practices and Lessons Learned” analysis for the past four years of agency Inspector General results that discuss compliance with the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act (IPERIA).  Wendy holds a B.S. in Finance - Norfolk State University, MBA in Management, M.S in Finance – University of Maryland and an Executive Leadership Certificate from Cornell University.  Wendy is a member of the Association of Government Accountants – President-Elect 2016 Washington, DC Chapter, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, National Association for Female Executives, and the Project Management Institute.  

 

Publication
Association of Government Accountants Journal of Government Financial Management, Summer 2014.  An Emphasis on Payment Integrity:  Key Practices to Sustain and Renew Your Commitment to Ending Improper Payments.

 

Jim Taylor

Managing Director,

Grant Thornton

(former Chief Financial Officer, Department of Labor)

 

Mr. Taylor is a Managing Director in Grant Thornton’s Global Public Sector practice, with 34 years of experience in government finance, systems implementation, internal controls and grants management. Immediately before joining Grant Thornton in June, 2014, he served as the IRS Commissioner’s Senior Advisor on implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA); prior to that he was a presidentially appointed, senate confirmed CFO at the Department of Labor.  He also served as Deputy Inspector General at DHS, as well as Deputy CFO at the Department of Commerce and FEMA.  In 2004, Mr. Taylor led the team that drafted OMB Circular 123; and in his subsequent role as Deputy IG, worked with DHS in identifying a cost and resource-efficient approach to meet their legislative requirement for an internal controls audit opinion. Mr. Taylor led financial systems implementations at FEMA, Commerce and Labor, the latter being the first department-wide cloud based shared service financial system in the federal government. His teams also achieved the first clean audit opinions at FEMA and Commerce.  Mr. Taylor was named CFO of the Year in 2011 by Government Executive Magazine, awarded the Donald E. Scantlebury Award for Excellence in Financial Management in 2005, and the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive in 2004.  He holds a BA in political science/economics from Old Dominion University, and an MPA from the University of Delaware, where he was a Public Service Fellow.  

 
Calandra Layne

Senior Manager,

Grant Thornton LLP

 

Calandra Layne is a Senior Manager in Grant Thornton’s Global Public Sector. She has over twelve years of experience in Federal financial management. Calandra oversees project teams at agencies within the Federal Civilian and State & Local sectors, wherein she provides internal control assessments, enterprise risk management, grants management compliance oversight, and improper payments assessments.    Calandra currently supports the National Science Foundation (NSF) with OMB A-123 Compliance and ERM; the Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) with OMB A-123 Compliance; the District of Columbia Courts with implementing an OMB A-123-based internal control program; and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Integrated Management System and Internal Controls (IMSIC) with conducting an as-is analysis and developing recommendations for integrating Green Book Principles and ERM into existing processes. 

 
John Scornaienchi

Senior Manager,

Global Public Sector

Grant Thornton LLP

 

Mr. Scornaienchi is a Senior Manager in Grant Thornton's Global Public Sector. He has over 31 years of combined experience in the financial services industry and the federal government. He is skilled in financial management, internal control development and assessment, improper payment assessment, project management, and enterprise risk management (ERM). Mr. Scornaienchi is currently supporting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as the Project Manager for the OMB A-123, Appendix A Project. While at CMS, Mr. Scornaienchi implemented a commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) software solution to automate the collection of data and compilation of A-123 test results/workpapers. Mr. Scornaienchi also: 1) supports the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in complying with IPIA/ IPERA; 2) supports the Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS) in complying with IPIA/IPERA; 3) supported the U.S. Department of Labor in complying with OMB Circular A-123, Appendix A and IPIA; and 4) supported the U.S. Department of Transportation in complying with OMB Circular A-123, Appendix A.

 
Greg Wallig CISA, CGEIT

Managing Director

Global Public Sector

Grant Thornton LLP

 

Mr. Wallig leads Grant Thornton’s Public Sector Governance, Risk and Compliance and Information Assurance Practices. With over a decade of hands-on technology program management experience, coupled with ten years of risk management experience, Mr. Wallig helps Grant Thornton’s clients to design and operate efficient technology controls programs.  To that end, Greg has designed and assessed control frameworks for some of Grant Thornton’s largest clients in both an internal and external audit capacity.  Examples include the Social Security Administration, United States Marine Corps, Office of Personnel Management, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and the United Nations.  He is particularly adept at working in highly complex environments with high volumes of transactional data.  Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Greg was a manager with Accenture and a Principal with American Management Systems (now CGI); focused on global technology development, program management and product launch.  He holds a degree in International Relations from the College of William & Mary with a secondary concentration in Mathematics and he frequently writes and speaks on the topic of utilizing risk management principles to improve program performance, particularly in the light of severe budget cuts.

 
Rob Irish

Director
Grant Thornton LLP

 

Rob possesses over 16 years of experience in change management, business transformation, quality management, business process improvement, budget, cost accounting and management, and risk and financial management.   Most recently, he has focused on open government, transparency, innovation, public participation and shared services initiatives.  Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Rob worked for several large management consulting firms, focusing on IT and financial risk management, finance transformation and social media projects.  Rob also worked for the Federal Aviation Administration as an analyst we he conducted several special projects for senior FAA leadership.  Rob is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has served on the Washington, DC and Northern Virginia Boards of the Association for Government Accountants.  Rob has provided his insights and thought leadership on risk management and transparency to many federal agencies, publications and conferences.

 
Denise Lippuner

Partner,

Grant Thornton

 

Denise Lippuner is a partner at Grant Thornton and is responsible for leading its Public Sector Financial Management Advisory Services. She began her career with the Government Accountability Office performing pre-CFO Act audits, which inspired her to help public sector organizations improve their financial management processes. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Denise was a partner at IBM Global Business Services where she led their Public Sector Risk and Compliance Practice. She also worked at PwC, Coopers and Lybrand and Pricewaterhouse as a consultant and an auditor. Denise is a co-author of Managing Public Dollars, has presented at numerous conferences as a speaker on financial and risk management, and has contributed to several research papers and articles. In addition, she has been a reviewer for the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting (CEAR) Award Program. Denise graduated from Virginia Tech with a BS in Accounting and is a CPA and CGFM.

 
Bobbi-Jo Pankaj, CGFM, PMP

Senior Manager

Global Public Sector

Grant Thornton LLP

 

Mrs. Pankaj is a Senior Manager in Grant Thornton Global Public Sector with over ten years experience in financial management and systems review and implementation in the public and private sector. She is a Certified Governmental Financial Manager (CGFM) and Project Management Professional (PMP). Her special expertise is the areas of internal control, financial analysis, process documentation, and training. She also has experience in COTS system implementations, requirements gathering, business process reengineering, process improvement strategy, and development of policies and procedures. Since joining Grant Thornton, Mrs. Pankaj has focused on performing internal control assessments related to the Federal Manager's Financial Integrity Act.

 
Chris Hare, PMP, CGFM

Senior Manager
Global Public Sector
Grant Thornton LLP

 

Mr. Hare is a Senior Manager in Grant Thornton's Global Public Sector. He is a Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Certified Governmental Financial Manager (CGFM). Mr. Hare has a background in financial management with a broad knowledge of internal control, federal financial management, financial management systems, government accounting, federal regulations and processes. He has over eight years of work experience with more than six of those years in the public sector arena of financial management and accounting systems. For the past four years, Mr. Hare has helped the Department of Veterans Affairs implement OMB Circular A-123, Appendix A.

Relevant Government Agencies

Air Force, Army, Navy & Marine Corps, Intelligence Agencies, DOD & Military, Office of the President (includes OMB), Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Commerce, Dept of Education, Dept of Energy, Dept of Health & Human Services, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of Housing & Urban Development, Dept of the Interior, Dept of Justice, Dept of Labor, Dept of State, Dept of Transportation, Dept of Treasury, Dept of Veterans Affairs, EPA, GSA, USPS, SSA, NASA, Other Federal Agencies, Legislative Agencies (GAO, GPO, LOC, etc.), Judicial Branch Agencies, State Government, County Government, City Government, Municipal Government, CIA, FEMA, Office of Personnel Management, Coast Guard, National Institutes of Health, FAA, Census Bureau, USAID


This event has no exhibitor/sponsor opportunities


When
Wed, Mar 9, 2016, 7:30am - 4:45pm


Cost

Government Fee:  $995.00


Where
Willard Intercontinental Hotel
1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004
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Website
Click here to visit event website


Organizer
Potomac Forum, Ltd


Contact Event Organizer



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