According to the White House, the budget will propose consolidating 38 K-12 education programs into 11.

"The current program structure at the Department of Education is fragmented and ineffective," the White House said. "The Department operates dozens of grant programs that impose narrow requirements on districts and fail to demand better outcomes or build a knowledge base of what works. Some of these programs have little evidence of success, while others are demonstrably failing to improve student achievement."

The White House will also propose to eliminate the Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit, which allows taxpayers eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit receive a portion of their credit throughout the year in their paychecks.

However, "only a tiny number of EITC eligible taxpayers claim the AEITC -- 3 percent, or 514,000 taxpayers according to the Government Accountability Office," the White House said. "And the error rate for the program is high: 80 percent of recipients did not comply with at least one program requirement. This ineffective and prone-to-error program should be eliminated."

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Bank of America separately agreed to pay $150 million to settle two earlier lawsuits brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission charging that the company lied to shareholders. The SEC's legal action, which was less aggressive than Cuomo's, did not include fraud charges and cleared individual executives of wrongdoing.

Cuomo's lawsuit raises the prospect that senior federal officials, both former and current, could be called to provide courtroom testimony for the first time about their role in rescuing the financial system. The lawsuit names former Treasury secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and other federal officials as participants in discussions about the merger between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch.

These officials have already been called before a congressional committee looking into the deal. Some lawmakers have said the officials, who were worried that the U.S. economy would be in peril if the deal fell through, conspired with company executives to hide information that Bank of America was required to disclose under federal securities laws.

The officials have said they did nothing wrong.

Long-running inquiries

The actions taken Thursday represent the culmination of long-running investigations by Cuomo, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Treasury Department's special inspector general for the financial bailout, Neil Barofsky.

"Bank of America, through its top management, engaged in a concerted effort to deceive shareholders and American taxpayers at large," Cuomo said. "They committed an enormous fraud, and American taxpayers ended up paying billions for Bank of America's misdeeds."

Bank of America first settled SEC allegations by agreeing to pay $33 million last summer. But a federal judge rejected the settlement, saying it left too many questions unanswered, punished the very shareholders who were injured and let top executives off the hook.

The SEC announced Thursday that the bank has now agreed to pay $150 million to settle the charges and make a host of changes in how the company is run. The agency said it would come up with a plan to ensure that the money goes to injured investors. A judge must still sign off on the agreement.

The new fraud charges, however, may complicate matters. The SEC had said in previous court filings that it could find no evidence that executives at Bank of America did anything illegal. Cuomo's suit says the opposite.

"We're proceeding with the case. . . . The SEC is settling," Cuomo said. When you settle a case, "the upside is you implement immediate regulatory reforms. . . . Our case I believe will bring individuals to justice. . . . The downside of a litigation is it often takes time. . . . When you put both together, it's a comprehensive approach."

The Bank of America case is the first major legal case to stem from the unprecedented response -- involving mergers and government intervention -- to the breakdown of the financial system in fall 2008.

Questions about Merrill

Cuomo's allegations turn on the question of whether bank executives recognized the size of Merrill Lynch's losses before or after Bank of America shareholders approved the merger. Cuomo's complaint says that the bank and Price, in particular, "knew or were reckless or negligent in not knowing" that Merrill's losses had reached at least $16 billion by the end of the day on Dec. 5, when shareholders voted on the deal. Bank executives did not report such losses before the vote, depriving shareholders of information they needed to evaluate the merger, the attorney general said.

The lawsuit also claims that bank executives told the federal government less than two weeks later that they were considering pulling out of the merger because of surprisingly large losses at Merrill Lynch that had come to light only after the shareholder vote. But from Dec. 5 to Dec. 17, when Bank of America officials told the government that they might back out, Merrill incurred an additional loss of just $1.4 billion, the complaint alleges.

Cuomo said the bank's expressions of concern were a ploy to win more government assistance. Federal officials were eager to see the merger proceed, since it could help stabilize the financial system.

"Bank of America and its officials defrauded the government and taxpayers at a very difficult and sensitive time. There was a perception that the financial system was teetering. And I believe Bank of America officials exploited this fear," Cuomo said.

In a statement, Bank of America said that it was pleased with the SEC settlement but that "we find it regrettable and are disappointed that the [New York Attorney General] has chosen to file these charges, which we believe are totally without merit."

A lawyer for Lewis called the fraud suit a "badly misguided decision without support in the facts or the law," and a lawyer for Price called the allegations "false."

The fraud charges come after Cuomo's investigators took more than 75 days of testimony from Bank of America and Merrill Lynch officials and reviewed more than 1 million documents, according to David Markowitz, the special deputy attorney general who heads Cuomo's investor protection division.

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Volunteers are needed to prepare these basic returns which often include W-2 income, earned income tax credit, and Social Security payments. Do not be worried about having to prepare complicated returns - VITA is not for people with high incomes, complex returns, or business owners.

To volunteer to prepare tax returns, IRS Certification must be obtained by taking the IRS Intermediate Training Course available on-line throughthe IRS' "Link and Learn" website and passing the test with a 70%. Additionally, volunteers are encouraged to attend a hands-on session utilizing the Tax-Wise software and e-filing procedures. More information on Training will be provided to volunteers by Kortney Whiteman.

Please consider volunteering for at least two of the Saturdays to make a difference in your community.

Please email your commitment to volunteer during the times listed above to kortney.whiteman@dfas.mil, ASAP

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Globalization has placed new demands on public policy. Political decisions must take international factors into account and adopt new forms to be efficient and make a difference. The same is true of auditing. Increased international exchanges today affect such areas as business deals, financial transactions, the transport of goods, the export of services, and taxation. The interaction between the private and public sectors has increased, and new dependencies have been created. The present financial crisis is definitely global in scope and, to a certain extent, has developed due to globalization. As Robert L. Bunting, President of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has observed,

“Governments, standard setters, and the accounting profession need to collaborate closely if common high-quality standards in accounting and auditing are to be established, adopted, and well implemented. And that includes accounting standards for governments, many of which have become major investors in the private sector during the crisis.”

Finding joint international solutions is becoming increasingly important, a trend that is becoming evident in the field of auditing, where the auditor has to focus on what unites rather than what divides across borders and between sectors. The need to create financial and political stability is one common denominator, and harmonized global standards and auditor independence are important prerequisites for this. Thus, SAIs are facing new challenges in their important task of auditing the impact of actions carried out by the executive branches of government.

Public sector auditing has come under intensified scrutiny as its role in strengthening public management, follow-up, and control and supporting good governance has been increasingly recognized. Over the years, INTOSAI members have expressed a clear need for more robust and reliable auditing standards than what has been available to date. Furthermore, the World Bank has emphasized the importance of SAIs and the development of international standards for public sector auditing. INTOSAI has responded by not only pursuing the work on auditing standards but also involving the donor community in the cooperation. New claims from its own members, the donor community, and society at large have created a new and important context for developing auditing standards.

This challenge has been very obvious in the Swedish National Audit Office as it chairs the Subcommittee on Financial Auditing Guidelines (FAS) and hosts the FAS Secretariat and its work to develop internationally accepted standards for financial audit. This work has been carried out in close cooperation with IFAC and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) with financial support from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. As a result of this unique cooperation between public and private sector auditing, we can be assured that the final product—the development of International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) for financial audits—will be state of the art. SAIs around the world also deserve special mention for their generous contributions to FAS’ work by nominating financial audit experts, commenting on exposure drafts, and encouraging us in other ways. Without this invaluable input, the task of the FAS would have been impossible. Thank you all!

Implementing new auditing standards will mean challenges but will greatly benefit all SAIs.

• For the auditor, it will provide greater confidence and credibility in the audit work being carried out. Internationally accepted standards form the basis for our professionalism as auditors.
• For the head of the SAI, it will improve the quality and credibility of your organization’s financial audits and allow you to benefit from joint training activities with auditors from the private and public sectors both nationally and internationally. This will save you money.
  
• For the stakeholders of each SAI—such as the Parliament, the executive branch, the auditees, the press, and the public—it will increase confidence in the SAI’s work.

Applying INTOSAI financial audit guidelines provides a basis for cooperation and the exchange of experiences between SAIs and auditors in different countries, enabling each SAI to relate its work to that of others operating in accordance with international standards. Globally accepted standards will provide a common language to serve as a basis for professional discourse and cooperation. Mutual experience will benefit all.

To INTOSAI members, implementation of the ISSAIs for financial audits will have a clear impact on our work as it puts new demands on the way we conduct our audits. That will certainly be the case for the Swedish SAI, just to mention one example. It will require an investment in education and routines that will affect our budget for some time and will also to some extent affect our auditees. However, the implementation cost must be seen as a very good investment in a joint international regulation as well as a step towards a healthy domestic and world economy.

After the XX INCOSAI, the INTOSAI congress in South Africa in November this year, the ISSAIs for financial audits will be available to the whole INTOSAI community in five languages. They are already available in English. This means that from the end of this year there will be a global standard for financial audit applicable both in public and private sectors. Over the long run, this will significantly contribute to improved transparency and accountability in the public arena, and I am very proud to have been involved in the process.

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2. The net neutrality pendulum swings both ways. All Internet data traffic exists in the form of data packets that are shuttled across all connected networks. Cooperative data packet exchange has been under way for 40 years, and it has been successful. But some complex problems have emerged in recent years. Here’s the basic problem: The largest networks, known as Tier 1, support a basic peering arrangement that allows packet traffic from other networks to pass through the Tier 1 networks. That creates a lot of traffic, and some Internet service providers have started to deal with traffic overload by prioritizing packet traffic. That's not bad in theory, but it could give ISPs the power to slow traffic from competitors or channel people toward some services and away from others. People who support net neutrality think all data packets should be treated equally, while those who think ISPs should have a choice in how they treat data disagree. We expect the net neutrality supporters to win the first couple of rounds in this fight, but the topic won’t go away. Eventually, the telecommunications lobby will win, and by 2020, setting priorities for certain data packets will likely be the norm.

3. Your desk has a single device that serves as a phone, computer, video screen and more. Improvements to voice over IP, TV over IP and shared platforms for social media systems will lead to unified devices that no longer look like phones or computers. Instead, you will have a large screen, keyboard and headset. For government, it’s increasingly likely that this unified device will be a thin client, and you will connect to various services by opening new windows — one each for phone calls, daily business tasks, applications, databases and more. As you do your business, mini-transactions are created in a generic format. Those transactions can then be parsed to users as they prefer, perhaps as an e-mail message, automated voice message, text message or instant message to a phone, or update to a database.

4. Accessibility problems are finally solved for government Web sites. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires federal agencies to make electronic information accessible to people with disabilities. The intention is good, but compliance has lagged. Yet by 2020, we expect to see improved screen readers, better standardization of how text and images are rendered on screen, and other technologies that should make both working and Web surfing a more positive experience. We expect to see the government step up its efforts to help refine global standards and interfaces for assistive technology. Meanwhile, companies such as Freedom Scientific are pushing the envelop on things such as screen readers. Open-source projects such as Gnome are helping to develop multiple interfaces, including screen reader and other displays.

5. Data lag and packet latency problems are solved on large parts of the Internet. The National Science Foundation expects to award several multimillion-dollar contracts during the next year to develop and test new Internet architectures. Meanwhile, projects such as the Global Environment for Network Innovation, which has also received NSF funding, have helped develop global test networks with an eye toward handling large sets of data traffic. That is good news, but will this broader bandwidth come at a premium price? (See net neutrality, above.) Meanwhile, projects such as the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Floating Cloud Tiered Internet Architecture, which reduces the need for sprawling routing tables for some types of packets, could eventually further streamline network traffic, at least for some tiers.

7. Spam and phishing are mostly under control. The bad news is that security concerns will never fully go away because it costs far too little for spammers to get started, while the rewards can be great for spammers and those who phish for information. But by making the barrier to entry a little higher, much of the problem can be stopped. How? By assertive use of new laws and lawsuits to go after spammers and malware installers; by launching and continuously updating social engineering awareness campaigns; and by improving internal rules for government networks, adding things such as egress filtering and highly detailed domain name white and black lists.

8. IPv7 could be waiting in the wings. For the past few years, the Internet Engineering Task Force has been circulating ideas and draft papers related to the next version of IP. The updated version, whenever it happens, is likely to be called IP Version 7 (IPv7). But don’t hold your breath. IPv6 took well more than 13 years to develop, and it still is not widely implemented. And there’s only the smallest chance that many of us will be using IPv7 by 2020. So why be excited about it? It might be that IPv7 will finally be able to address the problem of spoofed data packets. Today, IP is designed to deliver any data packet if the “To:” portion of the packet is properly addressed. That makes it easy for hackers to spoof the “From:” address. If IPv7 can fix that, it will significantly change the nature of packet traffic on the Internet, which is a good thing.

10. Government interactions with the public makes a tectonic shift. Many people in their teens and 20s do not read the newspaper nor view government notices that arrive in the mail. They get all of their news and other information online or via their cell phones. This demographic shift, coupled with the climbing cost of paper printing, means that more government business will move online, including setting up accounts and log-in information for everyone who wants to do business with your agency. Because people of various skill levels will start logging on, agencies will need to collect demographic information to make decisions on what data to display and how to help with information navigation. To monitor best practices in this evolving arena, visit and monitor the sections called "Managing Content" and "Usability and Design."

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Nearly $4 million in contracts issued by the Navy's Military Sealift Command to rent ocean tugboats and barges have not yet been added to the procurement database, but were found on FedBizOpps, a government Web site that catalogs federal contracting opportunities.

The Military Sealift Command has issued nine other solicitations for Haiti relief in which contracts have yet to be awarded, according to FedBizOpps. The agency needs ships that can provide sleeping quarters for up to 1,800 Army and Navy personnel, a vessel to provide water and sewer services, and shuttles that can ferry service members from the ship to shore, according to Meghan Patrick, a spokeswoman for the command. The agency expects to award the contracts by the end of this week, she said.

Additional Defense Department contracting appears imminent. The Defense Logistics Agency's Joint Contingency Acquisition Support Office is working with the U.S. Southern Command to establish a contracting office in Miami for the relief efforts. The office will provide oversight and program management of Defense contractors, Pentagon officials said.

Civilian agencies have issued contracts that run the gamut of emergency supplies and services, including hand tools, life rafts and blankets.

The majority of contract spending, however, has focused on prepping Merchant Marine cargo ships to ferry equipment and supplies to the tiny Caribbean island. The Transportation Department's Maritime Administration has awarded $1.82 million in contracts to firms that manage their cargo ships.

Most of that money will go to Interocean American Shipping Corp. of Moorestown, N.J., which has been awarded three task orders off an existing Maritime Administration contract, worth a combined $1.4 million. The company, which manages the government-owned vessels, said two large cargo ships are ready to be deployed to Haiti at any time.

"We are ready to go," says Mitchell Walker, Interocean's vice president and general manager. "We expect to be there as soon as there is cargo."

In some cases, contractors specializing in emergency relief efforts are advertising their services directly to the government. The IPOA, a trade association of private contractors, posted a page on its Web site listing member companies "available and prepared to provide a wide variety of critical relief services to the earthquake's victims."

Doug Brooks, president of the IPOA, said the posting has received numerous page views but he was unsure whether it had resulted in any contracts.

The Homeland Security Department has been among the most active contracting agencies, issuing $1.5 million in contracts through the U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The three agencies are purchasing a variety of supplies and services including diesel engines, telecommunications equipment and translation services.

ICE also issued a $260,000 contract for "guard services" to the Geo Group Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla., company that specializes in providing "private corrections and detention management," according to its Web site. When the earthquake hit, more than 3,000 inmates reportedly escaped from the National Prison of Haiti in Port-Au-Prince, which was virtually destroyed. Uprisings were reported in several other Haitian jails. Details of the contract were not yet available.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which has been among the most active federal agencies on the ground in Haiti, has reported only two contracts: one for medical kits and another to hire a Washington crisis management and disaster planning firm to report on response and recovery efforts.

GlobalOptions Inc., the parent company of James Lee Witt Associates, will receive just under $100,000 for an initial in-country assessment report. Witt, the firm's owner, served as President Clinton's FEMA director from 1993 to 2000. A company spokeswoman declined to comment on the contract.

All the civilian agency contracts issued for Haiti relief have been task and delivery orders or purchase orders from existing contracts. Citing the urgent need for services, agencies did not open a new competition for any of the work, data shows.

Forty-two percent of the civilian contracts for Haiti relief have gone to small businesses.

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Programs:

• Ticket Printing/Selling
  • Checking with Shawn McCracken for opinion on individual both printing & selling tickets.
  • Electronic controls are currently in place to track all ticket sales and monies collected.
• Luncheon Attendance (bringing own lunch)
  • Consensus was to continue policy requiring ticket purchase for attendance to cover CPEs offered as well as luncheon costs and facility arrangements.
• Membership Appreciation Luncheon
  • Confirm date of July 8th
  • Suggestion to move to June due to PDC in July
  • Jessica Carse will check availability of Red Pavilion in order to reserve.
  • It was noted that the DSCC Multicultural Day is scheduled for June 17th.
  • Consensus agreed to suggestion made to order pizza or other catered-type food instead of grilling.
• Next Luncheon - February 11th
  • Ohio Dominican University students will present their case that was submitted to AGA in competition.
    

Membership:

• Justin Morrison reported 11 new members since the November Early Career events.
• Chapter participated in December ASMC Professional Fair
• Membership table will be set up 1/26 & 1/28 in Café 21, pending coordination with facilities.
• Early Career sent article to AGA highlighting chapter's EC activities
  • Possible inclusion in AGA Today or e-newsletter.
  • Might also appear in DFAS Corporate Communications.

Early Career:

• Early Career Social at BW3 - November 24th from 4:30-7:00
  

Certification:

• Bob Palmieri reported that notice would be sent out shortly for upcoming
  • CGFM Section 1 Brown Bag Luncheon sessions
  • He would like to begin next week - further details to follow.
• Extra and borrowed Section 1 study guides are requested.

Education:

• PDO Update
  • Planning meetings continue, further info to follow
  • PDO will be held in DFAS Conference Center on March 18th.
  • Suggestion made to use electronic registration forms.
• PDC Update - the way ahead (July 11-14, 2010 - Orlando, FL)
  • No word yet on DFAS funding for this year's PDC.
• Next Audio Conference - February 10th
  • "Understanding IT Audits for Program Managers and Auditors".
    

Communications:

• DeVry Website Project
  • Send website wants/needs to Justin S. ASAP
  • Justin S. following up with students to check their progress, they're working on the basics now.
  • Would like to include info on past and future chapter events.
• Ken George showed attendees sample of printed name tags that can be used at luncheons, etc
  • A message asking members to update their info on the AGA website will be sent.
• 1/21 is the deadline for the next newsletter.
• AGA National changed some criteria for the newsletter competition.
  

Ways & Means:

• OSU Football Profits - chapter profit of $2,804.41
  • a bit lower than last year due to decreased sales.
• Potential Fundraiser - Suggestion made for Texas Hold 'Em Tournament
  • Perhaps at Butch's Restaurant in Westerville or Pour House in Gahanna.
  • Joyce M. doing further checking into possibility.
    

Community Service:

• VITA Update
  • Chapter participation starts on 1/30, there are currently 31 volunteers (preparers and admin/intake).
  • Many preparers have yet to finish their tests.
  • Most volunteers will be at Northland High School
  • Extras could be sent to other VITA locations as needed.
    

Historian:

• NTR
  

By Laws:

• NTR

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Rules/Regulations:

• For each game, you will be required to be at the stadium 3 hours before kick-off.
• The stand will be in operation throughout the entire game and about 30-40 minutes after the game.
• You will be required to be at the stand at all times; that is, other than approved downtimes/scheduled breaks. During such time, you will have the opportunity to watch some of the game.
• Please keep in mind this opportunity is not to be used as a free game day ticket.
• Family members and children (over the age of 16) are welcome and encouraged to participate in this fundraising event.
• Please keep in mind that AGA is required to provide 8-10 members per game, therefore if a no-show occurs, you forfeit the right to participate in future games.
• Sign-up is a first come first serve basis. Any volunteers that surpass the 10 person threshold, will be waitlisted.
• AGA will provide a $10.00 lunch compensation and a $10.00 parking fee reimbursement to all volunteers.

The 7 home games are listed below with their kick-off times. Please contact Joyce Maleski for the game(s) you are interested in working.

Further details will be provided to the volunteers once the work schedule has been finalized. In the meantime, please contact Joyce Maleski at joyce.maleski@dfas.mil or 693-1334 if you should have any questions or concerns.

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