News from the AFP Conference: Sunday

A roundup of the news from the AFP Conference today:

City of Los Angeles Wins AFP Pinnacle Grand Prize

The City of Los Angeles won the 2009 Pinnacle Award Grand Prize for excellence in treasury and finance at AFP's Annual Conference today. An independent panel of eight judges declared the Office of the Treasurer of Los Angeles had the superior entry out of a record number of submissions.

The Los Angeles Office of the Treasurer:

… Updated its 30-year-old system and reduced unidentified deposits from 1,220 to fewer than 20 per month;

… Automated general ledger posting, resulting in the reduction of 107 FTE hours per week;
Realized annual float savings of $1.13 million from implementation of four controlled disbursement accounts; and

… Decreased compensating balances with an associated increase in return on investment of $4 million.

"AFP is extremely proud to honor the City of Los Angeles as the 2009 Pinnacle Award Grand Prize winner," said Jim Kaitz, president and chief executive officer of AFP. "Despite seemingly insurmountable external and internal challenges, the City of Los Angeles transformed its treasury and finance operations to benefit residents by more efficiently handling taxpayer revenue -- and leading the treasury and finance industry in the process."

Judges were impressed by the sheer scope of the project: Los Angeles reengineered entire processes and systems while winning buy-in from multiple city agencies and political figures.

For winning the AFP Pinnacle Grand Prize, the City of Los Angeles receives a $10,000 donation from Wells Fargo to the charity of its choice. Los Angeles will donate the award to Angel's Flight for runaway and homeless youth, run by Catholic Charities of Los Angeles. The center is a refuge for runaway teens, most of whom are fleeing abusive families. Teens are welcomed with shelter, food, clothing, mental health care, counseling and education. The program includes a drop-in center and an outreach component, and reaches at least 3,000 adolescents a year.

BancTec Showcases Solutions at AFP Annual Conference

BancTec is highlighting its capabilities in accounts payable automation, digital mailroom and business process outsourcing (BPO) at the AFP Annual Conference.

"Many of the world's largest organizations utilize BancTec solutions to improve their internal operations and generate bottom-line cost savings," said Chuck Corbin, chief marketing officer, BancTec. "From helping organizations capture, deliver and manage their inbound communications more effectively, to improving accounts payable operations, we have enabled clients across the globe to simplify the management of their information, business processes and technology infrastructure. We look forward to interacting, and sharing our message with, the corporate treasury and financial management professionals at the AFP Annual Conference."

BancTec's CenterVision solution converges departmental capture applications and complex mailroom centers onto a common platform. BancTec says the CenterVision solution helps organizations speed up the delivery of business-critical information, streamline existing document processes, and more easily adapt to changing business requirements.

BancTec says its AP Master accounts payable automation solution enables enterprises to significantly lower the processing cost per invoice and gain improved financial management. AP Master can cut down the time, man hours and financial resources associated with the hassles and headaches of back-office AP processing, allowing organizations to focus more attention on pressing business challenges.

UMB Financial Executives to Speak at AFP Annual Conference

Michael Hagedorn, chief financial officer of UMB Financial Corporation will speak at the AFP Annual Conference this week.

Hagedorn will present “Exploring Shakespeare: A modern day economic tragic comedy” on Wednesday, October 7, from 8 – 9 a.m. in room 220. The presentation offers his professional insight into the actions the government is taking to correct the downturn of the economy, the choices businesses are facing and the financial decisions we make collectively as a society.

Hagedorn has more than 20 years of experience in the financial world. His responsibilities include corporate and regional finance, audit, compliance, regulatory reporting, strategic planning, management reporting, properties and enterprise project management.

Additionally, Dennis Triplett, CEO of UMB Healthcare Services, a division of UMB Financial Corporation, will speak at the AFP Annual Conference in San Francisco.

The presentation will take place on Monday, October 5, from 4 – 5 p.m. in room 236. Triplett will be co-presenting with Chris Ryan, chief strategy and marketing officer at SHPS, a leading provider of health improvement and health benefits solutions. The presentation, “Health Care Dilemma: Individual Responsibility, Social Good or Entitlement?” will address current health care reform proposals as well as health care consumerism.

Triplett has more than 27 years of experience in the banking industry. He oversees UMB’s strategic direction in healthcare banking and manages the sales and marketing activities, as well as product development and relationship management. In addition to his role at UMB, Triplett also serves as chairman of the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation and chairman of the America’s Health Insurance Plan’s HSA Leadership Council.