After reading through the various publications written by ALGA members over the years, I’ve come to realize that our organization has really done some pretty amazing things. From its humble beginnings in an auditor’s living room to the professional organization that it is today, ALGA has become the preeminent professional organization for local government auditors in all of North America.

The evolution of the Local Government Auditing Quarterly has tracked the organization’s history nicely. The founders quickly realized that without a journal, it would be impossible to share knowledge gained and to connect with fellow auditors. Thus, the LGAQ was born when ALGA was but a hatchling herself.

We’re really proud of our cover this issue because it was able to fit out theme of celebrating 20 years of local government auditing while maintaining the idea that every cover would have a photograph of the seat of government of one of our member’s organizations.

I would also like to answer a burning question for many of you auditors out there: How can you celebrate a 20th anniversary when you only count 19 different conference cities on the cover? The answer is, because you count Philadelphia twice! Philadelphia was the original host for the first N.A.L.G.A. conference in 1989 and will repeat as the host city for the twentieth annual conference in June of 2008.

Since this is my last issue as editor, I would like to thank Brandon Haynes for taking the reins into his very capable hands. I think that serving as the LGAQ editor has been a wonderful opportunity for me to grow professionally, to learn about the local government auditing organization, and to demonstrate technical proficiency….all while using the creative part of my brain! Since I will be a father for the second time in as many years, I decided that it would be a good time to find a worthy successor for the role of editor. Thank you, Brandon, for offering to do this. I truly appreciate it and feel confident that you will do a great job.