GASB
David Bean, Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) director of research, discussed the status of statements 34 and 39. Statement 39, said the NASACT News article, is expected to be issued this May, and will affect legally separate tax-exempt entities affiliated with universities, hospitals, museums, libraries, etc. Technologies related to fixed asset management were discussed, including bar coding, and Palm operating system devices to input and track fixed assets. Fixed asset software should support inventory, accounting and reporting, and depreciation methods. Oklahoma and Michigan received certificates for early GASB 34 implementation. The GASB chair said that 34 may be modified after further state and local government experience with it.
Security
- Wireless systems communicating with computers in their vicinity
- Unpatched system flaws
- Bad programming
- Poorly configured firewalls
CRM
According to the NASACT News, 40 percent of all CRM projects fail to meet expectations because of lack of commitment to a customer-centric strategy, and leadership to carry it out.
Performance Measures
Oregon was cited as a leader in instituting performance measures, and the state's John Radford gave examples such as the cost per paycheck, the percentage of W-2cs printed, and the pros and cons involved in applying such measurements.
ERP implementations were discussed, including a J.D. Edwards system in Nebraska. Twelve states are currently involved in ERP implementation, according to a survey cited at the conference, and a number of states are building non-ERP systems, especially in the procurement area.
A session also dealt with incompatible "component unit" ERP systems. Arizona was cited for having a unified ERP, and North Dakota is integrating ERP statewide. A presenter from Delaware discussed tandem SAP financial and PeopleSoft payroll and HR systems. According to the article the state did not have adequate resources for two simultaneous projects, and consequently, one failed completely and one failed initially but is now revived. Massachusetts and Michigan have chosen a "best of breed approach."
NASACT Database
A number of state auditor's offices are participating in a shared knowledge database under construction on the NASACT site.
Payments
Project Action is a low-transaction-fee electronic payment system being developed by NACHA, which allows the "buyer to initiate payment to a seller via the buyer's financial institution." One advantage cited was lack of credit-card transaction fees.
Economic Base of Terrorism
NASACT is continuing its education program on the Web to help prevent investment of public funds into terrorist front groups.
For more information, visit the NASACT website. The annual NASC conference proceedings are also available online.
