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THE FINAL WORD

THE FINAL WORD

Conducting in the World of School District Accounting

Someone once told me that a great leader is like an orchestra conductor. With my background in music – I listened. It’s the idea of waving your baton and each part of the organization comes in just when they are supposed to and they all make music together that sounds glorious. So, our UPDATE issue today is about one section of the orchestra called “accounting.”

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Applying this analogy, the school business leader would wave his or her baton and accounting would show up, then in comes operations, then technology, then transportation and so on. And when everything is coming in together, they all work marvelously to create a thing of beauty. As much as we would like to believe that happens – THE ANALOGY IS A

MYTH! In reality, leadership is more like conducting an orchestra during rehearsals, when everything is going wrong. A true leader is the one who knows how to rehearse the right things and make the appropriate adjustments to make it go right.

Simply Saying

And so, this issue is dedicated to one function that better go right more than it goes wrong and the school business leader had better know how to address all the facets of it before, during or after it goes wrong. That is why this issue focuses on Accounting for Every Dollar. It gets at the heart of what school business professionals bring to a school district. Just take a look at the table of contents and you will see it unveils a host of issues that if not performed or dealt with according to the highest of professional standards, could result in the financial failure of a school district.

• How Districts are Discussing Return on Investment for EBF

• Preparing for Single Audits

• Off Balance Sheet Liabilities

• GATA Reporting

• EBF Reporting

Whether you are discussing the ROI of the EBF distribution, preparing for a Single Audit for the first time, struggling with GATA reporting or communicating how EBF dollars are spent, a highly trained school business professional can make a huge impact. Illinois ASBO is wholly committed to developing and growing school business professionals that need to orchestrate these issues. And when I say Illinois ASBO, I’m not talking about just the Board of Directors or the Illinois ASBO staff. I’m referring to its members. With nearly 1800 voices joining together to identify and advance best practices, a school district can virtually guarantee that it will be well served when it employs a member of our association.

The Mission Statement of Illinois ASBO is to provide our members and stakeholders with a comprehensive range of professional development activities, services and advocacy through inclusive networking and participation. Think of our UPDATE as just another way to learn and grow. In a nutshell that is professional development!

Now go make some amazing music!

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