AABPA Fall 2011 Symposium

Austerity: Budget, Analysis and the Great Recession

Last minute agreements to avoid shutdowns, standoffs on the Debt ceiling and high stakes for the Super Committee have been the headlines for the past six months. It is clear that a new picture of the U.S. Federal spending has arrived. Fiscal constraints, agency priorities, and transparency expectations will all be pieces of this new picture. Join fellow budget and program professionals for a day of educational speakers and panels and opportunities to share strategies across the government and private sector at AABPA’s Fall symposium on November 16, 2011.

Additional Presentations have been posted as of December 22nd. Please click on the name below to view the presentation.

Final Agenda

Plenary Speakers

Relmond P. Van Daniker, Executive Director, Association of Government Accountants

Jeffrey Simon, State of Massachusetts, Director of the Massachusetts Recovery and Reinvestment Office

 Panel Sessions

Continuing Resolutions: Ask the Experts Another year and yet another CR. This panel of professionals will share their expertise on the current legal and operational challenges of CRs. This practical panel will give you a chance to ask THE government wide experts questions.

Judy Thomas, Office of Management and Budget
Jenny Winkler, Office of Management and Budget
Roz Rettman, Office of Management and Budget, Retired
Robert Mahaffie, Departmental Budget Director, Department of Treasury
Julia Matta, Assistant General Counsel for Appropriations and Budget, GAO

Budgeting and Accounting: Changes Approaching Tremendous changes in budgeting and accounting are fast approaching, are you ready? For more than 20 years, these panelists have driven changes for the better in how every Federal agency handles budget and financial reporting.

Translating Success Through Performance Budgeting As financial pressures increase on federal programs, it is more important than ever to communicate clearly what those programs are trying to achieve.  Analysts and practitioners must become more fluent in the language of performance budgeting if they are to communicate successfully.  This panel will translate the impact of fiscal pressures on the President’s High Priority Performance Goals, agency strategic planning, and program/budget integration.

Ricardo Aguilera, Associate Professor, CFO Academy, NDU iCollege
Dustin Brown, Deputy Associate Director, Office of Management and Budget
John O’Brien, Associate. Professor, NDU iCollege
Linda Gileau, GPRA and Performance Budget Lead, Department of Defense Deputy Chief Management Office
Kevin Donahue, Senior Advisor, Department of the Treasury Chief Financial Officer

Next Round in the Budget Debate: Joint Select Committee on the Deficit The August legislation extending the Federal debt ceiling also created a new Joint Select Committee on the Deficit.  The Joint Committee is charged with reporting a plan to Congress by late November to achieve additional deficit reduction of $1.5 trillion over 10 years.  The plan must be considered by the House and Senate.  The panel will describe the timetable and procedures under which the Joint Committee is operating.  The panelists will also discuss the possible content of the Joint Committee plan and it potential impact on future Federal budgets.

Building a Better Budget Office:  How to be Strategic Without Starting Over Austerity.  Do more with less, yet again.  But do it faster and more transparently.  Budget Offices are caught in the middle – having to manage their agency’s constricted budgets while dealing with inadequate resources in their own office.  When budget offices are considering where to invest their resources to address or anticipate areas of need in their own organizations, they need a way of looking at their strengths and weaknesses that provides them with realistic approaches for improvement.  Major topic areas include: budget processes, staff capacity, technology, budget products, and the linkages between these that can determine whether an organization is a high performer or barely surviving.  This panel will look at ways budget offices can become more strategic and get work done.  You CAN do both!

The Future of Transparency Recovery.gov has impacted the expectations on what government transparency will look like in the future from all levels. How will government need to adapt to integrate these expectations into its process? What are states already doing to provide information to their citizens? This panel will discuss the evolution of transparency across government from the federal and state level, including the lessons learned from recent initiatives and the potential impact on your agency.