Zaskia Ruiz, Contract and Budget Services Manager, and Queenie Galvez-Ramiro, Senior Budget Analyst, co-presented Let’s Get Fiscal! to a packed-house, providing important fiscal information, which included critical topics, such as:
What are Grants; Where Funding Comes From (Federal, State, and Local/Subrecipient Sources); What’s Required; Types of Costs (Direct, Shared, Indirect); What’s Allowable/What’s Never Allowable; Who Checks/What’s Needed for Compliance; What Went Wrong/Consequences for Noncompliance; and How to be Fiscally Fit.
For example, What Are Grants? included the following: funds provided to state and local governments and other entities to implement federal programs and to support specific purposes, topics, or causes; payment for services to be provided with legal obligations to services outlined in the grant proposal; taxpayers’ investments; and more.
During How to be Fiscally Fit?, they stressed that, “It starts at the top! Management must endorse a compliance environment”, to include hiring, managing, and retaining qualified staff; capacity building; communicating effectively to staff the applicable laws and governing documents; ensuring prior findings and observations are resolved; and reviewing and updating procedures periodically.
Zaskia concluded, “Typically, it is tough to get an audience engaged during a Finance presentation. However, our attendees were fully attentive, providing us with a lot of positive feedback. Many commented that the presentation provided valuable insights, in a simplified manner, that helped them ‘connect’ with the information. We were pleased that several participants requested the presentation materials be e-mailed to them, so they could share with staff and management teams within their organizations.”
Dr. Boone’s 20+ years’ experience in the industry is extensive and her expertise in private-, public-, and non-profit sector workforce-services organizations is unparalleled, particularly in the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan area.
