NASHVILLE NOTES September 2016 Volume 40, Number 2 Inside this edition Luncheon Speaker Spotlight Committee News Members News Training Opportunities

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1 NASHVILLE NOTES September 2016 Volume 40, Number 2 Angela McElrath-Prosser Nashville Chapter President Inside this edition Luncheon Speaker Spotlight Committee News Members News Training Opportunities Upcoming Events 10/10/16 Luncheon Meeting 10/14/16 Newsletter Sub mission Deadline The chapter year is off to a good start. We had an excellent speaker for our first luncheon meeting as well as a large turnout of members. Thank you to Jim Arnette for starting us off with a bang. His remarks on Leadership lead me to reflect on the leaders I have had throughout my career and what kind of leader I want to be. We have another excellent speaker, Michelle Earhart, lined up for October. Michelle is going to cover the new guidelines for the Financial Integrity Act (FIA) Risk Assessment. This Act legislated that all Tennessee agencies perform an annual risk assessment and report the results to the Comptroller and Finance and Administration by 12/31 each year. Community Service is collecting school supplies for Alex Green Elementary School. We also have the Hands On Nashville Event September 24, This year we are helping at Apollo Middle Prep School. The school was named in honor of the astronauts who lost their lives on the Apollo 1 spacecraft. At the National AGA level, the National Office has challenged all the chapters to collect food/household items for a local charity in October. The chapter collecting the most items will be featured in the AGA Topics Magazine as well as on National s website. This challenge falls in the right timeframe for us to collect items for the Nashville Rescue Miswhen our chapter is serving meals at the Mission. We are working on the Nashville Chapter s Citizen Centric Report. I understand the value of doing these reports even more after receiving an unusual request when I first came to the Nashville Public Library. Librarians receive some unusual requests. Librarians are customer service driven and will try to help anyone who has a question. Recently, they listed some of the more unusual requests on our staff white board. My favorite is the one for the phone number to the space station. Librarians are also more focused on words than numbers. The unusual request I received was to help the Library tell a story with the financial statements. My first thought was accountants who tell stories with the financial statements usually go to jail. After further probing, I discovered they really wanted to make the numbers more understandable for non-financial people. This I could understand. Oh and if the space station has a phone number, I believe the people here will find it. Angela

2 SAVE THE DATE! Luncheon Meeting Dates Audio Conference Dates September 12, 2016 October 10, 2016 November 7, 2016 December 12, 2016 January 9, 2017 February 13, 2017 March 13, 2017 April 10, 2017 May 8, 2017 September 14, 2016 Internal Controls October 12, 2016 Cyber/Big Data November 16, 2016 Fraud Toolkit Case Studies December 7, 2016 Ethics February 8, 2017 GASB February 22, 2017 Fraud/Risk March 8, 2017 Uniform Guidance April 12, 2017 Ethics May 17, 2017 DATA Act June 14, 2017 Fraud/Data Analytics CEC Meeting Dates Conference Dates August 10, 2016 September 8, 2016 September28, 2016 November 3, 2016 December 8, 2016 January 5, 2017 February 9, 2017 March 9, 2017 April 6, 2017 May 4, 2017 October 11 12, 2016 Central Kentucky Chapter 25th Annual Accounting/Auditing Update at the Kentucky History Center. Register at October/November 2016 Nashville Chapter Fall Breakfast at the Tennessee Room, William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower January 25 26, 2017 Nashville Chapter Winter Seminar at the Tennessee Room, William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower April 5 7, 2016 Southeast Regional PDT to be hosted by the Coastal Georgia Chapter near Brunswick, Georgia

3 October Luncheon Speaker Michelle Earhart, CPA Accountants and has served as Program and Early Careers chair for the Nashville chapter and served on the National AGA Bylaws and Procedural Committee. Michelle Earhart, CPA Michelle Earhart, CPA is the Tennessee (TN) Deputy Chief of Accounts. She is in charge of the division of Statewide Accounting for the TN Department of Finance and Administration which oversees statewide grants management, the general ledger, assets management, vendor maintenance and the financial oversight section that is responsible for the preparation of the State s financial statements and statewide GAAP standards implementation. Prior to joining the TN Department of Finance and Administration she was a legislative auditor for the TN Comptroller of the Treasury. She has worked for the State of Tennessee for 15 years. She is a past president for the Nashville chapter Association of Government November Speaker Southeast Regional Vice President Dr. Jannett D. Bradford will be speaking at the November 2016 luncheon meeting. Her topic is A Personal Approach to Enterprise Risk Management. Do not miss this wonderful opportunity to meet Dr. Bradford and learn more about Enterprise Risk Management.

4 Committee News Community Service Membership Welcome back! It was great to see those of our membership at the luncheon in September, and ten first-time guests, and we look forward to seeing everyone at various CPE, social, and community service events throughout the year. Kicking off this new year with Recruitment Incentives are the following: 1. First-time guests receive a free lunch. SCHOOL SUPPLIES DONATION DRIVE Don t forget!! We are still collecting school supplies donations for our Pencil Partner, Alex Green Elementary School. Melvin Jones and Charlotte Gentry have already been collecting school supplies and have already made a delivery! Attached is a list of needed school supply items. You may drop off your donations through the end of September at one of the following locations: TN Tower 22 nd Floor Emily Gray JK Polk 16 th Floor Tammy Fruscione Howard Office Bldg 3 rd Floor Joyce Bentley Downtown Nashville Public Library Angela McElrath Prosser Happy School Supplies Shopping!!! 2. Each sponsor of a new member receives a $10 gift card. 3. The member who sponsors the most new members by December 31 wins $ Gain 30 points so that you can receive a $45 rebate on your full membership renewal after renewing by March 31, Speaking of points, visit the website or contact Charlotte Gentry to see how to gain points throughout the year. Just about everything you do can help you win the membership rebate mentioned above and a chance to win a free trip to Boston in July for the National Professional Development Training (PDT). Get involved! Benefit yourself and others through your professional association, AGA! NATIONAL CHALLENGE The National Office has challenged all the chapters to collect food/household items for a local charity in October. The chapter collecting the most items will be featured in the AGA Topics Magazine as well as on National s website. This challenge falls in the right timeframe for us to collect items for the Nashville Rescue Mission and deliver them on October 27 when our chapter is serving meals at the Mission. The Rescue Mission wish list is on Page 6. New Member Please welcome new member, Trenda Baugh! She is an auditor with the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

5 Community Service Nashville Rescue Mission

6 Committee News

7 CGFM News Congratulations New CGFMs The Nashville AGA Chapter would like to congratulate our two newest CGFMs! Melissa Boaz is an Investigative Audit Manager with the Tennessee Comptroller s Office and earned her CGFM in May Laura Seaman is an accountant with the Tennessee Department of Human Services and completed her CGFM in August Congratulations to you both on this outstanding achievement! Becoming A CGFM -- A Conversation with Melissa Boaz Melissa Boaz is a longtime employee with the Tennessee Comptroller s Office and recently earned her CGFM designation. This is her fourth professional credential, and we wanted to learn more about why Melissa pursued another certification and how was her experience with earning the CGFM: Q: What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about getting the CGFM? M: Consider taking a live review course, and give yourself plenty of time to study between exams. Don t get in a big hurry to take all three parts. Start with the part that seems easiest for you and work up to the hardest. Also, consider purchasing the practice exams. They were a big help for me. We want to thank Melissa for her input on the CGFM, and we hope it inspires others to earn the CGFM. If you have any questions about the CGFM or how the Nashville Chapter can help you along the way, please contact Michael Winston (Michael.Winston@tn.gov). Question: For someone who already has multiple certifications, why was getting the CGFM an important goal for you? Melissa: The CGFM was the one certification pertaining to my job that I didn t have. It had sort of haunted my thoughts for a long time, and when the live review course came to Nashville in 2015 and was taking place literally 5 feet from my cube, I took it as a sign that it was time to go for it. Q: What was the hardest part about getting the certification and how did you overcome it? M: Finding time to study was the hardest part for me. I had scheduled each test in advance at Pearson Vue so I would know how much time I had between parts, and I made study schedules for myself for each part and focused on sticking to the schedule. That took some of the stress out of studying. And, don t be afraid to reschedule a part if you don t feel you will be prepared by test day. I rescheduled exam two about 4 times before I felt comfortable taking it.

8 News And Just The Facts CAREER CENTER A Internal Auditor 4 position was recently posted. Qualified and interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to the link provided at Our Current Standing as of 9/26/16, is as Follows: Chapter Recognition Section Points Maximum Percentage Chapter Leadership, Planning & Participation 2,775 3,000 93% Education & Professional Development 925 4,000 23% Certification 450 4,000 11% Communications 864 3,000 29% Membership 900 4,000 23% Accountability 0 2,000 0% Community Service 900 2,000 45% Awards 0 1,000 0% TOTALS 6,814 23,000 30% LUNCHEON / CEC MINUTES To read the minutes from the most recent CEC and luncheon meeting, please visit the chapter website at The luncheon minutes will be presented for approval at the next business meeting scheduled for October 10, JOB OPPORTUNITIES From time to time departments forward job opportunities to the Website Committee, which are posted for members convenience. If you are interested in new job offerings or know someone who is, go to this link for detailed information nashvilleaga.org/jobs.html Editor s Corner We truly enjoy reading articles submitted from our membership. Please share your thoughts and ideas or interesting news with us by submitting your article to Karen.B.Hale@cot.tn.gov no later than October 14, 2016 for the next edition of our newsletter. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks!

9 AGA Chapter Leadership Directory Officers President Angela McElrath-Prosser (615) President-Elect Britt Wood (615) Immediate Past President Penny Austin, CGFM, CPA, CISA (615) Secretary Donna Jewell, CPA, CFE (615) Treasurer Eugene Hampton, II, CGFM, CPA (615) One-Year Directors Bridget Carver Membership Chair (615) Emily Gray Community Service Chair (615) Debi Moss Program Chair (615) Anna Nickell Education Chair (615) Michael Winston, CGFM CGFM Chair (615) Two-Year Directors Keevia Battle, CPA Community Service Co-Chair (615) Charlotte Gentry Awards Chair (615) Donna Nicely Early Careers Chair (615) Victor Nwanso Corporate Sponsorship Chair (615) Doreen Zientar, CIA Program Co-Chair (615) Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs Nathan Abbott, CISA, CFE, EA Webmaster Co-Chair (615) Gerry Boaz, CGFM, CPA, CGMA Accountability Outreach Chair (615) Rachelle Cabading, CFE Education Co-Chair (615) Eddie D Ovidio Finance Chair (615) Edward.D Ovidio@tn.gov John Dunne, CPA, CGMA Meetings and Attendance Co- Chair (615) John.Dunne@cot.tn.gov Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs Karen B. Hale, MAOM, CGFM Communications Chair (615) Karen.B.Hale@cot.tn.gov Jai Sawlani, CGFM Finance Co-Chair (615) Jai.Sawlani@tn.gov Scarlet Sneed, CGFM, CPA, CFE Meetings and Attendance Chair (615) Scarlet.Sneed@cot.tn.gov Jennifer Whitsel, CPA, CFE, CGMA Membership Co-Chair (615) Jennifer.Whitsel@cot.tn.gov Dan Willis, CGFM, CPA, CISA Webmaster Co-Chair (615) Daniel.Willis@cot.tn.gov Chapter Address: AGA Nashville Chapter PO Box Nashville, TN Visit the Nashville Chapter website at Visit the National website at: