Utility companies depend on assets to drive their business. The challenges facing utilities, whether from deregulation, globalization, regulatory requirements, increasingly competitive market, or restructuring has placed business operations on center stage. In order to achieve higher performance - whether measured in terms of revenue growth, profitability or customer satisfaction - companies are out of necessity looking at asset management as a means of maximizing the value of their assets. This one-day course is intended to provide participants with an understanding of what asset management is, why it matters, and what assets should be analyzed. Additional topics to be covered include:

• How should you think about the future
• Understanding general assets
• The importance of vehicles/fleets, and downtime
• Computer and software planning
• Personnel - The Utilities most important asset

Audit committees are valuable resources for all organizations that require audits, including non-profit organizations. In light of increased public scrutiny, due to recent corporate scandals, organizations must seek ways to maintain customer trust. The existence of an effective audit process and audit committee can help an organization maintain or restore trust in their organization. This course is designed to lay out a framework for developing a functional audit committee or for reviewing the status of an existing process and structure. Participants in this one-day training session will gain insight and working knowledge of:

• Advantages and disadvantages of audit committees
• How an audit committee should be structured and function
• Who should serve on an audit committee
• Why your organization needs an audit committee charter, and how to form such a charter

This one-day class is designed principally for Accountants of all levels as well as those in Management. The focus of the class will concern a review of common types of fraud, their increased occurrence, an understanding of the prevalence of fraud, and how organizations are responding to this problem. The class will include a discussion of fraud deterrence methods, including techniques to strengthen internal controls to prevent fraud as well as steps and processes used in detecting fraud. Participants will be exposed to the use of various internal control items such as COSO as well as how to investigate internal fraud, and the use of various interviewing techniques. Participants in this program will gain useful insight into:

• The high cost of fraud
• Various methodologies for detecting and preventing fraud
• How to distinguish between perpetrators and the victims
• Understanding the characteristics and demographics of those who commit fraud
• Preventing fraud and understand how to develop a successful fraud prevention program