ASG-hosted APIPA conference mandatory for all govt finance personnel

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Acting Gov. Talauega Eleasalo V. Ale has made it “mandatory” for finance personnel from all ASG entities to register and attend the Annual Conference of the Association of Pacific Islands Public Auditors (APIPA) that will be held virtually and hosted by American Samoa.

ASG has been promoting the conference — set for Aug. 22nd through Sept. 3rd — through various social media platforms and also in communication with respective government agencies. But it appears there’s not that much interest prompting Talauega, who is the lieutenant governor, to issue an Aug. 17th memorandum to all cabinet members.

According to the acting governor, he has been informed that registration from American Samoa for “this important event is significantly low at this time.”

“We must take advantage of this rare opportunity to further professional and career development,” he said. “I cannot emphasized enough the importance of compliance, good governance, accountability and transparency in our government.”

And with the recent influx of federal funds, “we must be ready to provide a full and complete account of these funds in order for ASG to remain fully compliant with the federal government and grantors.”

He “implored” all ASG finance personnel to register the for APIPA conference. “Participation from each department, agency, and authority is mandatory,” Talauega declared.

He pointed out that he Territorial Audit Office will assist in registration if anyone experiences any problems or has any questions. Additionally, each participant will receive a certificate showing Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit for each course completed. And registration is free for insular government professionals.

APIPA chairman and also American Samoa’s Acting Territorial Auditor, Tofa Sualauvi H. Su’a issued an open letter to participants, posted on the APIPA conference website saying that while the conference is again offered virtually this year, like last year, “continuing our innovative effort to offer training that will span the miles between us” is important.

“We may not be able to travel, but we still need to maintain our professional competencies,” he said.

According to the chairman, the conference will help participants “maintain needed training and expand new approaches to build on our governments’ important audit and accountability efforts.”

He explained that APIPA will offer 16 four-hour blocks of training sessions, including four plenary sessions and choices of 12 additional sessions – “even more if you opt to switch between our two tracks.”

The plenary sessions on each Monday and Friday are sessions of general interest to participants, and each track day will offer one or two topics of general interest, as well as a technical topic in auditing and accountability.

“With these 16 half-day courses and the opportunity to earn up to 40 hours of continuing professional education over our conference’s two weeks, you will find this year’s conference invaluable to your professional development,” he wrote.

An open invitation for participants to the conference invites all interested from finance, administrative personnel, accounting, bankers, auditing, bankers and private sector.  And it also shows that 23 finance and audit courses will be delivered virtually during the conference.

In his open letter, Tofa expressed appreciation to the U.S Interior Department’s Office of Insular Affairs, as well as the Pacific & Virgin Islands Training Initiatives (PITI-VITI), for their ongoing support of APIPA and annual conferences. He also expressed thanks to the Graduate School USA for their work securing outstanding instructors.

“Pandemics may keep us apart in the short term, but as we look forward, training will continue to bridge our oceans’ miles and time zones to keep us up-to-date on accountability – which is now more important than ever,” he said.

Registration for the conference is on their website: [www.apipa2021.org].