3 minute read
New Core Course
New Core Course In Local Budgeting Presented At Pre-Conference Session
David Cain, Retired Director of Finance – Adjunct Professor CSUN, CPP & CSULB
CSMFO’s Mission is to “serve all government finance professionals through innovation, collaboration, continuing education and professional development.” To that end, CSMFO’s core course program of in-person training sessions has been expanding in recent years, with the addition of classes in Investment Accounting (one course) and Revenue Fundamentals (two courses). The next addition that has been identified by the CSMFO leadership is a two-day core course on budgeting. During the 2020 CSMFO Annual Conference, held in Anaheim at Disneyland Hotel, was the inaugural budget session entitled ”Building a Better Budget: Best Practices and Insightful Perspectives for the Budget Practitioner”. CSMFO’s new core course covered budget fundamentals providing new budget analysts with a comprehensive review of the budget process and related issues. In this pre-conference session, the first two of four modules of the new core course were offered, covering “Foundations of Budget Management” in the morning and “Building the Budget” in the afternoon. Key concepts which were covered included types of budgets, the relationship between the accounting and budget functions, the importance of accurate forecasting and long-term financial planning, best practices for the budget process, personnel budgeting, and key concepts in non-personnel budget management. Attendees left this session with useful best practices, practical exercises and examples, and valuable perspectives from budget practitioners. The facilitators were Ken Brown, Principal, HdL Companies, and David Cain, Retired Finance Director, City of Fountain Valley, both seasoned public sector budgeteers’. Plans are being made to make this first budget core course available in alternating locations in both northern and southern California in late summer early fall and then regularly in the future. The second day budget training core course will include Module Three – “Budget Documents and Reporting” and Module Four –“Advanced Budget Concepts” which will be more focused and appeal to the more seasoned budget and finance professionals. These two modules are being developed with the goal of making them available in early 2021. The CSMFO Board and leadership are excited to have this opportunity to expand the core training and professional development options focusing on budgeting best practices for all our members. Look for news about the upcoming in person trainings for budgeting in the months to come.
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