AICPA & CIMA 2021 Governmental Accounting & Auditing Online Update

Pandemic funding has made the single audit arena very challenging and things are changing much more frequently than usual. This session will bring you up-to-speed on important matters. Topics to be covered include:

• Highlights of changes to the 2021 Supplement
• A summary of COVID-19 funding and related challenges.
• Tips and resources

The CARES Act created and tasked the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee with providing transparency and coordinated oversight of federal pandemic response funds—now totaling more than $5 trillion. Come learn more about our structure, what we have accomplished so far, and what we’ve learned in providing critical oversight of American tax dollars. The session will also discuss higher risk areas and fraud indicators related to pandemic funding as well as our Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence, which was created to conduct data analysis and visualization; promote leading practices; share data, tools and services; and provide investigative support related to COVID-19 relief and response programs.

Crypto assets have had both high and low moments over the last decade. What are they, how they work, and what the future is for this space will each be explored in this presentation. Other areas such as accounting considerations, regulatory framework, and evolving crypto asset products will also be shared.

The AICPA Professional Ethics Division issued the State and Local Government Client Affiliates Interpretation to provide guidance to auditors of State and Local governments in evaluating which entities are affiliates of those governments. This session will go through an overview of the revised interpretation, discuss examples of how affiliates would be evaluated using this interpretation, and introduce some tools to assist in the evaluation. The session will also cover current Ethics projects that will impact state and local governments.

The time has come to implement the new GASB lease standard (GASB 87). This session will explore some of the more significant implementation challenges and key auditor considerations. In this session, we will explore:

• Determining the completeness of the lease population, including identifying embedded leases
• Use of recognition thresholds
• Separating components and allocating contract prices
• Selecting and auditing discount rates
• Subsequent measurement of lease liability/receivable and accrued interest
• Lease remeasurements and implications to accounting systems and processes
• Accounting for lease modifications
• Preparing for required note disclosures
• Common transition adjustment questions
• Using a rollforward approach for auditing
• Consideration of GASB Statement No. 96, Subscription-Based Information Technology Arrangements

Dr. Brett Baker will present topics addressing recent areas of common interest in the federal oversight community:

• OIG community cross-cutting projects to address government-wide risks

• DATA Act

• IT Security

• Pandemic response audit work

This hot topic session will provide an introduction to the new Director of Research and Technical Activities. The session will also provide an overview of projects nearing completion, such as Compensated Absences and Accounting Changes and Error Corrections, as well as some projects still in progress.