As regular readers of this ezine are aware, unclaimed property, especially in California, has become a hot topic. This is probably why some of the principal players in that skirmish were featured on Good Morning America earlier this week. The article summarizing the piece can be accessed below. While the article on ABC news website focuses on the consumer abuses, it highlights why this issue could be a real problem for our readers.

There are a few things going on-all of which could adversely affect those not reporting or not reporting correctly. First, while some of the states only use the interest income on the unclaimed property, a few take the funds directly into the state coffers and spend it. As the consumer advocate groups educate their constituency on how to reclaim their funds, the states are left with less-just at the time when they are strapped for cash. Hence most are looking for more unclaimed property and they are looking for it from organizations currently not reporting.

California was one of the states that took the unclaimed property into the state coffers directly - or at least it did until the recent spate of suits. The state has been identified as one of the most aggressive in this area. This is one of the reasons we plan to hold one of our fall Unclaimed Property Seminars in the Los Angeles area. We are in final negotiations with the hotel and plan to hold it on September 25.

The golf aficionados in our midst probably chuckled when they saw we had planned our Cincinnati event for the week of September 19-the week of the Ryder Cup! After a few short phone calls we found out why rooms were so hard to get and quickly rescheduled that event for October 3.

I was at a meeting recently with the controller of a mid- size organization. He was a pretty smart guy but when it came to accounts payable, I couldn't believe how much money he was leaving on the table by not focusing on the details. To be perfectly honest, this is one of my pet peeves. This gentleman is not alone.

In my experience, controllers generally fall into two groups: those who get the implications of implementing best accounts payable practices and those who don't believe it makes much of a difference. Almost two years ago I was asked to address a group of accountants, controllers, CPAs etc. In the middle of my talk, a woman raised her hand to complain that I was talking too much about the details. She was only interested, she said, in the big picture. Yes, she was in the second group; she REALLY didn't get it.

I've spent a lot of time fretting about how to reach the second group. To that end, we've created several programs in the upcoming months. By the way, these are not for controllers alone. Several people have signed up indicating they were bringing the controller and their AP management staff.

The most ambitious is our Cash Leakage Webinar. This six-hour event on May 30 focuses on ways to eliminate the leakage. Like all our events, attendees are eligible for NASBA CPEs and there is a CD option.

Then on June 19th, I'm going to take the stage (so to speak) and talk for one hour in a Crash Course about the accounts payable details that can make a bottom-line difference to any organization.

I'm especially pleased to have snagged Mark Evans for out Telecom webinar a week later. He'll talk about some common telecom frauds as well as offer some telecom cost- reduction tips.

By the way, you might be interested to know what happened when the woman interrupted me to say she thought I should only talk about big-picture concepts. First of all you could hear a pin drop in the room. There were 200 people in the room and I think everyone stopped breathing. I won't tell you what went through my head-but I will tell you that she gave me a perfect platform to launch into why the details are so very important-at least to those interested in the bottom line.

As mentioned above, the issue of getting controllers (and CFOs and other high-level executives) on board with accounts payable best practices has bothered me for a while. There have always been a few who understood the ramifications of not using best practices but what about the legions of others? That was my reasoning behind writing The Controller & CFOs Guide to Accounts Payable-explain the issues, along with the ramifications of not using the recommended best practice.

We've taken several of our products and packaged them into what we call "Toolkits." We've got one for T&E, another for unclaimed property and one that we refer to as the "Accounts Payable Executive Set for Controllers & CFOs."

I continue to look for ways to get the accounts payable best practice message across to all controllers & CFOs-not just the few savvy ones. If you've had success changing management's perception of accounts payable practices or of the team, please share them with me. Send a note to publisher@ap- now.com and if you want your story to be anonymous, I'm happy to honor that request. And if any of the controllers reading this are willing to chime in, I'd love to hear from you as well.

16th-18th June, Brussels, Belgium 18th-20th June, London, United Kingdom

Well I'm off later this week to the American Payroll Association's annual conference where I'll be talking about "Creating an Effective Payment Process with Best Practices." I hope to meet some of you there; please come by and say hello.
Until next week, thanks for listening.

Mary Schaeffer
Editorial Director
Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow