AGA Awarded Contract by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to Deliver CGFM Courses to Government Financial Management Staff

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Recently, the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) delivered eight sets of Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) courses to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) employees, as part of the contract awarded to AGA by the VA. The contract spans five years with a potential of 68 sets of CGFM courses to be delivered during this period.


Each set consists of three CGFM courses:

Course 1: Governmental Environment

This course looks at the organization and structure of government, public accountability, ethics in government, the governmental financing process and other legal and environmental aspects of government.

Course 2: Governmental Accounting, Financial Reporting and Budgeting

This course looks at the general principles of governmental financial accounting and performance reporting, and budgeting, as well as the unique aspects of both federal and state and local financial accounting and reporting.

Course 3: Governmental Financial Management and Control

This course looks at internal and management control, auditing, performance measurement and reporting, financial and managerial analysis and techniques, concepts and controls.

The CGFM courses provide a foundation in all areas of government financial management and deal with all levels of government -- federal, state and local. These courses have been designed as high-quality continuing professional education (CPE) for individuals new to the government financial management arena or individual looking to expand their knowledge of this field. These courses also help candidates prepare for the three CGFM Examinations.

About AGA: The Association of Government Accountants is a 15,000-member professional association that serves government accountability professionals by providing quality education, fostering professional development and certification, and campaigning in the public interest to for higher standards of government accountability and transparency. www.agacgfm.org

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Looking For Training? Check out the New AGA Education and Training Brochure

The brochure includes onsite, audio, conferences and online offerings to help you and your staff's education and training needs. Check out one of the courses currently being offered:

Grants Management: This course provides a general overview of grants management, including preparation, review and submittal of proposals; negotiation and acceptance of grants; post-award financial and administrative management; closeout and audit; and relevant compliance issues. Click here to learn more and get detailed information.

The 18 other on-site courses include lectures, group discussion and exercises and class problem-solving. They can be customized to meet your needs and participants are awarded CPEs based on the length of each course.

For course pricing and additional information about course content, please contact Bekka Gehrmann, Education Manager, 800.AGA.7211, at ext. 309.

AGA - Sample CGFM Examination Questions Now Available

AGA's website now offers sample CGFM Examination questions.

Go to "What Do Exams Cover" page and click on "View CGFM Examinations Sample Questions" link.

Looking for some guidance on the best way to prepare for the examinations? Here are some tips to help you be more successful.

CGFM CPE Requirements Updated

December 2008 - the CGFM Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Requirements have been updated. While there have not been any major changes to the CPE policies, a number of provisions were clarified, modified or updated. Here is the summary of main updates (with references to the specific sections of the CPE Requirements document):

• Section 2-clarified the applicability of CPE requirements to all active CGFMs and the fact that there is no minimum number of hours required each year.
  
• Section 3-updated the section on retired status to reflect the recent changes to the retired status definition.
  
• Section 4-clarified circumstances warranting an exception.
  
• Sections 7 and 12-addressed the topic of taxation.
  
• Section 9-added clarification on criteria used to determine if programs qualify for CPE hours.
  
• Section 10-provided additional guidance on internal training programs; added additional examples of applicable activities such as web-based programs and audio conferences.
  
• Section 11-included specific questions to ask when making the determination of applicability of the hours.
  
• Section 12-updated the examples of topics and subjects list.
  
• Section 13-clarified applicability of basic or elementary courses and repeated courses or presentations.
  
• Section 14-explained the calculation of partial hours and updated the calculation of hours for self-study programs.
  
• Section 15-specified how CPE hours are awarded for course development.
  
• Section 16-updated the acceptable CPE documentation guidelines.