A Letter From Our President
Dear Colleagues, I wanted to thank everyone for their participation in the Fall Virtual Conference. We had a turnout of nearly 300 members and the very active participation of our sponsors as well. I wanted to thank all our sponsors for their continued support and attendance at the Fall Conference. In particular I wanted to…
Read MoreFiscal First Aid- GFOA US & Canada
What is Fiscal First Aid? By: Mike Mucha, GFOA Deputy Executive Director Shayne Kavanagh, GFOA Senior Manager of Research Katie Ludwig, GFOA Senior Manager Jamie Porter, GFOA Program Associate COVID-19 and the associated recession has presented immediate financial difficulties and has also harmed the long-term financial outlook for local governments. To help local governments deal…
Read MoreMany best practice articles suggest putting your best staff on the ERP implementation project, and then backfill for their ongoing day-to-day responsibilities. Do you find this practical; from your experience have you seen this actually carried out?
Yes. I think that it is practical and necessary to put your “best” on the project. The alternative is putting your “less than best” people on the project and setting up the system in a way that doesn’t set up that foundation for future success. We recommend that you don’t completely remove those individuals from…
Read MoreWhat is the typical life cycle of an ERP system?
What is the typical life cycle of an ERP system?From our research and experience, ERP systems need to be upgraded regularly. Most governments hold onto a system for 15-20 years between entire replacement projects. However, poor implementations, or lack of regular upgrades will require a shift much sooner (10-12 years is not unusual).
Read MoreWhat are the tell-tale signs that an ERP system needs to be replaced?
1) Current vendor no longer supporting system 2) Your business processes are fragmented, not consistent, rely on shadow systems or manual work 3) Your original system implementation did not fully implement the planned scope 4) The system itself presents business continuity risk from security issues, lack of internal support, or technology compatibility issues 5) Future…
Read MoreERP- There seems to be a trend moving away from single integrated system (which may be good for some tasks and less than adequate for others) to selecting best-in-class and develop integrations. Thoughts on this trend?
Core ERP (finance, procurement, HR, payroll) should be part of one system. It creates too many issues if your split up this “integrated core” Extended functions however, which in the past may have been modules of an enterprise-wide system such as utility billing, permitting, recruiting, etc. can be (and in my opinion should be) evaluated…
Read MoreERP- In my experience training always seems to fall flat in implementations – is there any proven fix to this issue?
Don’t limit training to only the system. Remember these are change projects and users must understand why they doing tasks in the way that is now required. Train on business process, train on chart of accounts, train on policies that are different. Also, assume training doesn’t end with go-live.
Read MoreLauren Bierly, Accountant/Auditor for Montgomery County, receives the 2020 MDGFOA Lloyd Jones Scholarship Award
Lauren did not take the normal route to become an accountant. Lauren has a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Juniata College and a Masters of Science in Geology from Purdue University. After working in the geology field, Lauren then obtained a Masters in Accountancy from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.…
Read MoreIntermediate Governmental Accounting Seminar slated for Spring 2021
MDGFOA will be hard at work over the Autumn and Winter updating our content for the Intermediate Governmental Accounting Seminar. The GFOA released a new Blue Book over the summer of 2020. As well, new uniform guidelines are rolling out. We will send out notification once a date is scheduled in the Spring for IGAS.
Read MoreNew Record: Montgomery Earns 50th Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting
Montgomery County earned a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for its 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). The County has received this award 50 times since 1951 and for 48 consecutive years since 1972 – more than any other County in the nation. The Certificate…
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