7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. |
Registration/Information Desk
Sheraton Park City
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8:30-9:20 a.m. |
Welcome and Plenary Session 1—The Value of Performance Audits: A Legislative Perspective
Sheraton Park City—Prospector 2-3
Legislative evaluators strive to ensure their work is accurate, objective, and relevant in order for it to be useful to legislators. In this session, we will learn from leaders about what they value in the work that we do.
Speakers:
Kade Minchey, Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General
Representative Brian King, Utah
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9:30-10:30 a.m. |
Concurrent Session 1-General Track—The Complexities of Public Education Audits
Sheraton Park City—Silver Mine A-B
This session is designed to focus on methods of holding public education boards and school systems accountable, and discuss processes used in evaluations and audits for addressing deficiencies in public education.
Moderator:
Jennifer Sebren, Mississippi Joint Legislative Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee
Panelists:
Laura Carroll, Tennessee Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury
Jaclyn Clute, Tennessee Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury
Edward Seyler, Louisiana Legislative Auditor
Debbie Davis, Utah State Board of Education
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9:30-10:30 a.m. |
Concurrent Session 2-General Track—Predicting the Future: An Introduction to Forecasting Methods and Tools
Sheraton Park City—Prospector 4
Various statistical approaches can be used to identify patterns over a defined period (days, months, years) and can be used to predict future trends. In this session, presenters will introduce the basics of approaching problems where forecasting future performance can be useful, provide some examples and discuss when it is appropriate to use.
Panelists:
Jon Courtney, New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee
Joshua Karas, Washington Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee
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9:30-10:30 a.m. |
Concurrent Session 3-Basic Skills Track, Part 1—Why Do We Audit? (Understanding Government Accountability and the Types of Evaluations)
Sheraton Park City—Wasatch
In this session, participants will explore the basics of governmental accountability and the purposes of evaluations. Topics will include the different types of evaluations, how evaluations may originate, and the range of expectations that may surround a project.
Instructors: Eric Thomas, Washington Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee
Patricia Berger, Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee
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9:30-10:30 a.m. |
Concurrent Session 4-Data Took Kit, Part 1—Data Preparation: Cutting the Lead Time for Data Analysis
Sheraton Park City—Executive Board Room
In this session, participants will explore the basics of governmental accountability and the purposes of evaluations. Topics will include the different types of evaluations, how evaluations may originate and the range of expectations that may surround a project.
This session is limited to 12 participants. Preregistration is required. Email Brenda Erickson to sign up for this session.
Instructor: Tim Bereece, Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General
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10:50 a.m.-12:05 p.m. |
Concurrent Session 5-General Track—Insights from Natural Resources and Public Land Audits
Sheraton Park City—Prospector 4
Most states face challenges in ensuring the availability and quality of natural resources. This panel will discuss the oversight of state water, land, and other natural resource programs.
Moderator:
Will Soller, Montana Legislative Audit Division
Panelists:
Rachel Murata, Washington Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee
Gina Brown, Louisiana Legislative Auditor
Kevin Brown, West Virginia Performance Evaluation and Research Division
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10:50 a.m.-12:05 p.m. |
Concurrent Session 6-General Track—Managing Workflow to Ensure Timely Reports
Sheraton Park City—Silver Mine A-B
The panel will discuss internal procedures that offices have implemented to help manage audit risk and workflow to ensure reports are timely and maintain credibility.
Moderator:
Courtney Phillips, South Carolina Legislative Audit Council
Panelists:
Judy Randle, Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor
Meghan Flanders, Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit
Kevin John, Utah State Board of Education
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10:50 a.m.-12:05 p.m. |
Concurrent Session 7-Basic Skills Track, Part 2—How Do We Conduct Audits? (Understanding Audit Methodologies and Planning for Success)
Sheraton Park City—Wasatch
In this session, participants will review the attributes of a complete finding, critical areas in planning the audit, the elements of a sound problem statement, and the types of critical thinking required.
Instructors:
Jennifer Sebren, Mississippi Joint Legislative Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee
Leslie McGuire, Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts
David Arner, Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts
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10:50 a.m.-12:05 p.m. |
Concurrent Session 8-Data Took Kit, Part 2—Simple Scripting: Convince Excel to Do Your Work
Sheraton Park City—Executive Board Room
In this session, you will be introduced to simple scripting within Excel using VBA to automate repetitive data preparation tasks that may become hurdles to performing valuable data analytics.
This session is limited to 12 participants. Preregistration is required. Email Brenda Erickson to sign up for this session.
Instructor:
Tim Bereece, Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General
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12:15-1:35 p.m. |
Lunch and Plenary Session 2—Working with the Media
Sheraton Park City—Prospector 2-3
Introductions:
Wayne Kidd, Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General
Speaker:
Mick Bullock, NCSL
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1:45-3 p.m. |
Concurrent Session 9-General Track—Finding and Keeping the Best Employees
Sheraton Park City—Silver Mine A-B
In an increasingly competitive marketplace, good employees tend to have many job opportunities. This session will explore states' experiences and success stories with recruiting, training and retaining good employees. This will be an interactive discussion with the panelists and audience.
Moderator:
Drew Dickinson, Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission
Panelists:
Patricia Berger, Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee
Emily Dixon, Louisiana Legislative Auditor
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1:45-3 p.m. |
Concurrent Session 10-General Track—Reviewing Higher Education Operations and Governance
Sheraton Park City—Prospector 4
Higher education governance systems vary widely across states. Generally, states have either one of two models: strong statewide control with authority maintained at the state level or strong institutional control with authority at the local level. Strong statewide systems coordinate and oversee the degrees offered, funding and other functions of the institutions. Whereas, with local level control, each institution decides the degrees to offer and each institution asks the legislature separately for funding. This session will review various higher education governance models and the pros and cons of those models.
Moderator:
Danielle Childress, Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission
Panelists:
Alyssa Sorenson, Montana Legislative Audit Division
Katie Cardenas, California State Auditor’s Office
Benn Buys, Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General
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1:45-3 p.m. |
Concurrent Session 11-Data Took Kit, Part 3—Analyzing Big Data Using PowerPoint
Sheraton Park City—Executive Board Room
When Excel’s one million row limit becomes an issue, learn how Microsoft’s PowerPivot utility can expand your capacity to evaluate larger data sets within the comforts of the Excel environment you know. This session is limited to 12 participants. Preregistration is required.
Instructor:
Michael Allred, Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General
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3:20-4:20 p.m. |
Concurrent Session 12-General Track—Regulating Regulatory Audits
Sheraton Park City—Silver Mine A-B
Occasionally, we encounter barriers when auditing regulatory entities. This session focuses on strategies to provide accountability in industries such as payday lending and bail bonds, who may be receiving insufficient oversight from their regulators.
Moderator:
Karen Leblanc, Louisiana Legislative Auditor
Panelists:
Ryan Langrill, Idaho Office of Performance Evaluations
Alan Leonard, Texas Sunset Advisory Commission
Michael Midkiff, West Virginia Performance Evaluation and Research Division
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3:20-4:20 p.m. |
Concurrent Session 13-General Track—Staying Relevant and Advancing the Field of Program Evaluation
Sheraton Park City—Prospector 4
In this session, panelists and the audience will discuss approaches their offices are using to stay relevant in meeting legislatures’ expectations, and in advancing and promoting the use of evaluation services.
Moderator:
Caitlin Badger, Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor
Panelists:
Eric Thomas, Washington Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee
Paul Navarro, California State Auditor’s Office
Darin Underwood, Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General
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3:20-4:20 p.m. |
Concurrent Session 14-Data Took Kit, Part 4—Visualization: Surveying Risk Areas through Data Visualization
Sheraton Park City—Executive Board Room
Don’t wait for the report, use visual analytics tools such as Excel and Power BI to quickly see the patterns, anomalies, and other incongruencies that lead to vital program evaluation questions.
This session is limited to 12 participants. Preregistration is required. Email Brenda Erickson to sign up for this session.
Instructor: Tyson Cabulagan, Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General
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4:30-5:30 p.m. |
Plenary Session 3-Impact Award Information Fair
Sheraton Park City—Prospector Patio
Representatives from offices who received the 2019 impact awards will discuss their reports.
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Evening |
Dinner on Your Own
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