Audit organizations world wide have been affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Even if you are not conducting a COVID-19 specific audit, auditors conducting audit work during the pandemic, or whose scope of work falls within the period of the pandemic, may face obstacles that can increase their audit risk including the unavailability of key staff, the inability to access key information, and the inability to follow established controls. 

Receive an in-depth review and update on the 2018 revision of Government Auditing Standards, plus a brief history on the development of the standards. Discuss the structure of the recent revision of the standards and the major changes, focusing on the sections applicable to performance audits. Discuss the purpose and requirements of individual standards, with emphasis on the recent changes. Apply specific standards to real life cases.  Discuss APIPA's Peer Review schedule and next steps to review APIPA member offices.

Public sector auditors are experts at helping their government organizations improve their operational cultures, control environments, and services. Yet, audit organizations are not always as focused on strengthening their own internal cultures, internal controls, and services. This session presents ideas for developing and deploying effective continuous improvement and change management activities within audit organizations and includes three entertaining audit organization change management case examples as well as learning objectives focused on auditing in a post-pandemic world.

Audit resolution, follow-up, implementation, and reporting is a responsibility shared by the audit organization, the auditee organization follow-up coordinator and action officials. This responsibility is described in a variety of laws and OMB Circulars to provide a basis for accountability of the audited entities in responding to audit recommendations, reaching resolution and implementing the agreed upon corrective actions to reduce the risk of loss, improve operational performance and financial integrity in all levels of government.

This course will explore the statutes, guidance and standards for audit recommendations, resolution, follow-up progress, monitoring and reporting. It will also define the roles and responsibilities of the audit organization and those designated to perform follow-up, implementation and congressional reporting and budget submission functions.

When public auditors conduct audits of financial statements, compliance with authorities or do performance audits of programs and services, there are opportunities to provide audited entities with extra value when conducting the audit work related to the audit objectives.   This session will provide some ideas for how you can make a greater difference with your audit work.

This course introduces the Enterprise Risk Management framework with the goal ofunderstanding how to identify, assess, and mitigate risks throughout an organization. In order toachieve strategic objectives, organizations need to be able to identify and manage the risks theyface.The importance of risk management has become increasingly clear in a pandemicworld

Governments struggle with managing resources and requirements for delivering efficient and effective programs and services.  The additional cost of systems and practices to manage and report on government operations can seem daunting at times.  This session will discuss concepts for results based management that are fit for purpose and can provide the kind of accountability needed for many government programs and services.

The island governments are in the news as they step forward to lead the fight to halt climatechange. Going green in the workplace brings the fight homeand enables everyone toparticipate. While “going green” might mean different things to different people, our definitionwill be “making conscious and sustainable choices.” We will take a look today at identifyingchoices that can be made and creating plans for action

Managing positive and productive relationships during the course of audit work, directing, coaching or working with members of the audit team, and dealing with auditees, organizational management and external stakeholders can be emotionally challenging and often confrontational. We often have to deal with difficult people in difficult situations– and they have to deal with us! This executive seminar will examine the emotionally intelligent competencies and communication skills necessary to maintain control, and better connect with people in defusing angst and in building positive, cooperative relationships for constructive problem solving and inspired action. We will explore differences in personality types that cause misunderstandings, how to manage your own hot buttons, and how to manage difficult personality types or potentially contentions situations for positive outcomes.

Government auditors need to continually deploy strategies to ensure their audit work results in maximum impact and value. This session previews four innovative performance auditing portfolios that demonstrate the power and potential f non-traditional performance auditing scope and objective areas including auditing culture (tone at the top and middle), auditing equity, execute real-time auditing, and deploying advisory service. The session includes case examples highlighting each of the innovative audit portfolios and includes cost-benefit and other strategic considerations for deploying these innovative practices.

This course introduces basic governmental accounting principles, terminology, and financial statements. It will enable understanding of the types of questions that financial statements can answer as well as where to find the answers. Participants will gain knowledge of the financial reporting process, the annual audit, and the resulting reports.  

The Grants 101 course will provide basic information about grants, including the responsibilities of recipients and key
tasks that must be completed during the project period. This course will be most informative for administrative and
program staff from organizations that were awarded a new grant in FY 2020 or FY 2021. It will also be relevant for new
staff on existing grants who do not have extensive experience in grants management.

The Performeter is an analytical tool that takes a government’s financial statements and converts them into useful and understandable measures of financial performance. The Performeter uses financial ratios and a copyrighted analysis methodology to arrive at an overall rating of 1-10, which indicates the overall financial health and performance of a government.

Since 2002, PITI-VITI has been developing Performeters annually for each of the insular areas. As a result, multiple years of cumulative data is now available for each government. In addition to being able to track overall scores, the Performeter can also be used to track individual trends within ratios: Net Assets, Fund Balances, Revenue Dispersion, Intergenerational Equity, etc.  This session will describe the Performeter tool, highlight recent results by insular area, and consider next steps for island governments'  financial health and performance.

Performance auditing is both and art and a science. Performance auditors are generalists who deploy advanced interdisciplinary based methodologies and tools to “interpret realty” in order to execute effective root cause analysis necessary to develop objective audit conclusions and strong recommendations. This session “audits” common and emergent performance audit methodologies including the strengths and weaknesses of methods and strategic cost-benefit considerations. Learning objectives include a discussion of standards of evidence, auditor competency and skill requirements as well as the importance of investing in tools. The session highlights data analytics as a powerful and emergent tool in the auditor tool belt and highlights several case examples including an entertaining story about how auditors brought down a fraud scheme in Oregon. 

Wow, what a year.  Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, GASB’s standard-setting activity had actually slowed to a more manageable level in 2020 after several very busy years.  However, that slower pace is set to pick up again with the implementation of many of the standards whose effective dates were initially postponed by GASB 95.  In this session, we will talk about fiduciary activity accounting and the new financial reporting requirements related to leases, along with several other pending GASB statements. In addition, several newer projects are closer to completion, with newer standards immanent.  We will also address the “big 3” project, which includes a proposed new financial reporting model. Whoop!  Whoop!  Who’s ready for the GASB Update!?!

This course will provide information about the steps that need to be taken to make changes to the grant as well as the concept of carryover and explain how to prepare a carryover request. The webinar will be most relevant for staff who are involved in the programmatic and financial management of the grant, particularly staff that prepare the budget.

This course will provide information about how to use program management to improve grant implementation. In addition, a sample work plan will be provided and discussed. The webinar will be most relevant for staff who are involved in the programmatic and financial management of the grant.