Government Accounting for the Non-Financial Professional

Have you avoided accounting and finance all your life? Have you noticed lately that your career and influence are limited because you don’t speak in accounting terms? Do you wonder why you are told to wait on some purchases but allowed to spend freely on other things? Do you ponder the meaning and purpose of encumbrances, internal service funds, and performance measures? Well, this the class for you!

Let Leita teach you the language of government finance so you can have an intelligent conversation with a finance or accounting professional. Imagine the respect and awe you will engender when you sprinkle your statements with government finance terminology! We won’t get too technical, but instead give you the information you need to start and maintain conversations about money.

Leita is the author of Accounting Demystified, a McGraw-Hill book and is a Certified Government Financial Manager and Certified Public Accountant. She has taught over 1000 full day seminars. As part of our time together, we will play a board game that teaches accounting and finance fundamentals called “Profit and Cash,” watch a John Cleese video, evaluate the financial health of a local government, design a financial performance metrics, and calculate activity-based costs for a government program.

Course objectives include:

• Determine a decision’s impact on fund balance and cash
• Discern between fund types
• Consider restrictions on fund use
• Understand the key financial statements and documents that government managers use to run their programs
• Calculate cost per unit of service in accordance with federal uniform guidance
• Use a comprehensive annual financial report to tell a story about the financial health of a government
• Create and maintain a simple performance-based budget
• Apply cost terminology including variable, fixed, indirect, and direct costs
• Extract the information you need from the organization’s financial reports

Who should attend: Non-financial professionals AND financial professionals who want to improve communications with their customers.
Program level: Basic
Prerequisites: No prerequisites or advance preparation required
Delivery method: Group live
Recommended CPE credit: 16 hours

Questions? You can find our FAQ here.