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[June 6, 2024]

SAAABA hosted its 67th annual business webinar on June 6, 2024. Approximately 165 people attended the webinar, which was kicked off by SAAABA Board President, Kim Poljan. The webinar featured the following presenters and topics:

Scott Bell, US Treasury – FY23 Financial Reports of the US Government

Rachael Eubanks, State Treasurer – SOM and National Economic Updates; Revenue and Budget Outlook for SOM

Kimberly Jones, AGA – Increase Your Confidence, Enhance Your Career

Jayson Cavendish, SOM Chief Security Officer – Artificial Intelligence and Impact on Cybersecurity

Dan Merritt, Rehmann – GASB Update

Mishaal Khan, Chief Information Security Officer – Online Hacking and Ways to Mitigate Risk

Rick Roybal, CISA, CFE – Vendor Risk Management

Participants were able to obtain 8 hours (4 Accounting & Auditing; 4 Other) of continuing professional education (CPE).

[September 30, 2021]

A year after our last in-person event, we returned to Hawk Island’s Peregrine Shelter for this year’s Annual Meeting. As a result of inclement weather, we were forced to push back the meeting to a week later than initially planned. Even with the change, a majority of the members were still able to attend and enjoy a delicious meal from Saddleback BBQ.

Our featured speaker Bill Ahearne spoke on the topic of “Leadership and the Power of Storytelling.” Regardless of your role or the industry you work, you have the potential connect with audience by telling better stories. Storytelling is a skill set., and like any other skill, it takes purposeful practice to improve. Using language your audience will understand and focusing on plot points that support the purpose you are telling the story are a couple of ways to tell better stories.

Thank you to Bill for helping us understand the importance of storytelling and providing some ways to get better. Thank you to the board members who helped to plan and host a great event. And thank you to our wonderful members who attended and those who could not attend but continue to support our group.

Next year’s annual meeting will include board elections. If you are interested in joining the board or learning more, email our president Keith Edwards at kedwards@audgen.michigan.gov. 

[June 22, 2021]

Keynote Address: Master Productivity while Working from Home – Jeff Sanders, Host of The 5AM Miracle Podcast

Cyber Secure – How to Avoid Becoming the Next Victim – Detective Sergeant Jeff Hoffman, Michigan State Police

The Economy as We Inch Toward the End of the Pandemic – Charles Ballard, Michigan State University

Test and Learn – Eric Van Tongeren, Director of Internal Audit at Meijer, Inc.

Audit 4.0 – Jun Dai, Assistant Professor of Accounting, Michigan Tech University

Standards Update – Stephen Blann, CPA, CGFM, CGMA, Rehmann

Internal Controls and SOC Reports – Duane M. Reyhl CPA, CGMA, AHP

[March 25, 2021]

Our speaker was Kelli Martin, the Treasurer, and Finance Director of Traverse City, Michigan.  In that role, she manages the banking, investments, budget, financial statements, ACT 345 Pension Board, utility rates, and tax collection.  Kelli is a lifelong civil servant and governmental accountant.  Before moving to beautiful Traverse City, she was the Director of Engineering Research at Michigan State University, a Financial Manager at the City of Ann Arbor, a Budget/Management Analyst for the Ohio Executive Budget Office, and a Benefit Plan Design Analyst at the Michigan Office of Retirement Services.  She holds undergraduate degrees in Accounting and Finance, graduate degrees in Business Administration and Accounting Research, and is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree (ABD) in Management focused on examining the relationship between governmental fiscal stability and the presence of a lean culture.  Kelli is a proud Western Michigan Bronco.

[October 21, 2020]

Our October luncheon featured the Chief Operating Officer of Hope Network – Tim Becker, CPA. Once again we met remotely using GoToWebinar.

Hello fellow SAAABA members,

I appreciate the opportunity and look forward to serving as President of SAAABA for the current term. I currently serve as a Senior Audit Supervisor for the Michigan Office of the Auditor General and am a licensed CPA and CISA. We on the board remain committed to SAAABA’s mission to advance the theory and practice of accounting, auditing and business administration. We are continuing to work diligently to provide quality learning opportunities and continuing professional education to our members. In the upcoming year, we also hope to expand and diversify our membership to increase networking opportunities. Please watch for these opportunities and we hope to see all of you in person again soon.

Keith Edwards, SAAABA President

Jesse Soerries, the new Director of Member Activities, has worked for the State of Michigan Office of the Auditor General for 8.5 years. He is currently in the Office of Professional Practice as part of the work paper review team. He is a CPA and a CISA and graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Masters in Accounting.

[September 29, 2020]

As with seemingly everything we are doing these days, this year’s annual membership meeting took on a new look. The meeting took place on September 29 at Hawk Island (Lansing, MI). An outdoor setting provided a safe environment for members to gather at a distance while enjoying dinner catered by Grand Traverse Pie Company. Our by-laws require an annual meeting and in even-numbered years it was where we hold our elections. This year’s ballot included no contested officer races and one vacant board seat, which means that we were able to unanimously approve the new board.

As is tradition, Bill Ballenger was our featured election year speaker. He provided a valuable overview of the 2020 general election with the latest updates on the political realities of the moment. Michigan ballots will include vote on President, US Senator, Congress, State Supreme Court, State Representative, Educational Boards, and two ballot initiatives ontop of various local offices, issues, and judges. Michigan voters will vote on over 10,000 different elected positions and issues if you total up the items on various ballots across the state. This makes Michigan the state voting on the most different items. 

It was a pleasure to hear from Bill while enjoying a delicious meal and the wonderful company of fellow SAAABA members. Thank you to the outgoing board that has grown and improved SAAABA over the last two years. The new board will host its first meeting in the first week of October and get to work on planning events for the next fiscal year. Please let us know if you are interested in serving on the board or would like more information. We appreciate your feedback and continued support.

[March 12, 2020]

Do you know how long you need to keep work records?  Do you know if it is legal to add a scanned signature to a document?  This presentation will answer these questions and more.

Caryn Wojcik, Senior Records Analyst of the State of Michigan Records Management Services will be joining us.  Caryn began working for the State of Michigan in 1996.  She is responsible for developing Retention and Disposal Schedules for public records, information governance initiatives, and training government employees about best practices for records management.

[Wednesday, March 12, 2020]

Do you know how long you need to keep work records?  Do you know if it is legal to add a scanned signature to a document?  This presentation will answer these questions and more.

Caryn Wojcik, Senior Records Analyst of the State of Michigan Records Management Services will be joining us.  Caryn began working for the State of Michigan in 1996.  She is responsible for developing Retention and Disposal Schedules for public records, information governance initiatives, and training government employees about best practices for records management.

As of August 31, 2021