Island Government Finance Officers Association Holds a Successful Annual Meeting in Orlando

The Island Government Finance Officers Association (IGFOA) successfully held its annual summer meeting in Orlando, Florida, from June 8-13, 2024. The IGFOA brought together government finance leaders and staff from various island jurisdictions: the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia—including the FSM National Government, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, and Yap—Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Conference Highlights:

The IGFOA held pre- and post-meetings around the GFOA Conference to encourage collaboration among participants. The pre-meeting on June 8, 2024, began with welcoming remarks from Jason Aubuchon, Senior Director of the Graduate School USA. Following the introduction, Brian Elms from Change Agents Training led a session on effective strategies to enhance government services. Debbie Milks, CPA, then reviewed the current status of single audits for insular governments and addressed existing delays.

From June 9 to 12, 2024, participants joined 7000+ other attendees at the GFOA Conference at the Orange County Convention Center, which featured over 70 CPE-accredited sessions. These sessions covered a wide range of topics, including the latest issues facing government finance professionals, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and leadership workshops.

On June 12, 2024, the IGFOA sessions resumed with opening remarks by Hon. Kaleb Udui, the Palau Minister of Finance. He emphasized the importance of the technical assistance provided by Interior, such as financial consultants and accounting advisors, as well as programs like the Maintenance Improvement Program and the Financial Management Improvement Program. Minister Udui shared,

“We are products of these initiatives that the Interior supports. The key message to DOI is the importance of these events due to the regionalism and the opportunity for us to work together, especially to address common challenges.”

The session continued with updates from Marina Tinitali, Deputy Director Policy Division, Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs. Her presentation was followed by a debrief on key topics from the GFOA Conference relevant to U.S.-affiliated insular governments, presentations from insular governments, a deeper dive into GASB standards, and discussions on IGFOA performance measures and updates to reporting.

The post-meeting sessions concluded on June 13, 2024. Closing the conference, Commissioner Kevin McCurdy of the USVI remarked on the overall conference,

"Part of the feeling you get is this opportunity to level set and connect with each other. It's pretty refreshing to see that some of us are facing similar problems and approaching them in a similar manner."

The IGFOA will meet virtually on October 10, 2024, and in person for the 2024 Winter Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, from December 10 to 12, 2024. The 2025 IGFOA Summer Conference will take place in Washington, DC, from June 27 to July 2, 2025.

The IGFOA is supported by the Graduate School USA's Pacific and Virgin Islands Training Initiatives (PITI-VITI), with funding from the Department of the Interior's Office of Insular Affairs (www.doi.gov/oia). For more information about IGFOA and future events, visit the PITI-VITI website: https://pitiviti.org/igfoa.