You continue to hear about cybersecurity and risk management when it comes to your audits. Yet, what are the next steps once you’ve inquired about a client’s risk management plan? Better yet, what are the next steps when you find out there is no plan? This session will provide insight into how and why CPAs and accounting professionals should be involved in these inquiries and processes. Cybersecurity risk management best practices, frameworks, and how to tie these into strategic initiatives will be discussed.

• Recognize the importance of an auditor’s role in evaluating a client’s cybersecurity risk management system and process.
• Select proper audit procedures that fall under an auditor’s responsibility to test cybersecurity.
• Recall cybersecurity frameworks and how these should be used in strategic planning.

There's a lot of talk right now about the pace of change, technological advancements, and all sorts of buzzwords like AI, RPA, neural networks. Most of us accountants, though, tend to either ignore the inevitable or go all in certain innovations we don't fully understand. In this session, we'll discuss some common pains, pleasures and pitfalls in actually implementing some of these technologies to make sure that any initiatives you undertake have the best chance possible of succeeding.

• List several common problems organizations face when trying to implement a new technology or run a pilot program.
• Distinguish between push and pull innovation.
• Create a process for determining the technologies and advancements that will most likely have a significant impact on your organization.

New 2018 Yellow Book Independence Standards

• Identify new Yellow Book standards to apply to government audits
• Apply new Yellow Book standards to government audits

In the 2013 revision of the Internal Control Framework, COSO singled out General Controls over IT as a point of emphasis. This session will share resources available to governments and their auditors to aid them in focusing on these controls and methods for ensuring that an organization has strong General Controls over IT.

• Select the types of general controls that should exist within a government's IT department.
• Identify resources and techniques for strengthening a government's general control over IT.

Present the President's Management Agenda related to the grant management, administration and audit.

• Recall the 3 Gears of the President's Management Agenda (PMA)
• Recall the 14 Cross Agency Priorities (CAP) goals
• Identify the objectives and status of CAP Goal 8 - Results Oriented Accountability for Grants

Quick refresher and discussion of several commonly misunderstood topics related to the audit of governmental financial statements. The quick hits will cover topics of: group audits, materiality, auditing estimates, common problems when auditing pension or OPEB plans, journal entry testing, and documentation.

• Recall the appropriate way to respond to common problems encountered when auditing governmental financial statements related to group audits and materiality.
• Recall the appropriate way to respond to common problems encountered when auditing governmental financial statements related to auditing estimates and pension and OPEB plans.
• Recall the appropriate way to respond to common problems encountered when auditing governmental financial statements related to journal entry testing and documentation.

Relying on actuarially generated information is becoming an increasing material part of government audits. This session will provide background and perspective on the actuarial profession and how their professional standards differ from those of accountants. It will then address specific considerations for auditing actuarial information including pension or OPEB questions to ask the actuary.

• Apply auditing guidance for relying on the work of a specialist to actuarial information and actuaries.
• Determine specific areas of emphasis when auditing actuarial information for pensions and OPEB.

Review of the seven steps of evaluating internal control over compliance, documentation examples, and tips/traps to keep top of mind.

• Indicate opportunities for improvement
• Recall the seven steps outlined in the process
• Indicate examples of good and bad documentation

This session will take a deep dive into GASB 84, Fiduciary Activities, walking through various transactions and analyzing how GASB 84 might apply, keeping in mind not only the standard itself but also the related implementation guide. The session will also outline reporting considerations as well as potential audit-related considerations to consider with the adoption of this new standard.

• Identify fiduciary activities.
• Analyze potential changes to the reporting entity.
• Determine appropriate reporting.

This session will provide an overview of what is happening in the single audit arena. You will learn about the:

• 2019 OMB Compliance Supplement;
  
• latest Uniform Guidance and single audit developments,
  
• news from the Governmental Audit Quality Center; and
  
• the single audit landscape looking forward.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate the 2019 Compliance Supplement.
• Interpret the latest single audit developments for your clients.
• Predict expected future single audit activities.