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CGFM Certification |
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The Certified Government Financial
Manager
Get more Information here... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Congratulations
to the following Ricky Quattlebaum CPA, CGAP,
CGFM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Take the CGFM Examinations Before the PDC AGA is once again offering a great opportunity to take the CGFM Examinations and earn your CGFM before the 57th Annual Professional Development Conference (PDC) in Atlanta, GA. We are offering a two-day Intensive Review Course on Thursday, July 24, and Friday, July 25, 2008, and an opportunity to take the CGFM Examinations on July 26-27, 2008. The cost of the course is only $249 for qualified participants, and it offers 18 CPE hours. Special Bonus: The CGFM Examinations are offered at no cost to course attendees. This Intensive Review Course will cover the updates to the CGFM Examinations, and this event will be the first opportunity to take the updated examinations. While the core of the examination content remained the same, the three examination content outlines were updated, refreshed and streamlined. This is your opportunity to get the most up-to-date information and earn your CGFM right at the PDC! More information and a registration form for this event are available on the AGA website - http://www.agacgfm.org/pdc2008/cgfm_exams.htm. If you have any questions, please contact Crystal Vanison at cvanison@agacgfm.org or 800.AGA.7211, ext. 316.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CGFM Examinations Update In 2007, AGA undertook a psychometric review and update of the three CGFM Examinations. To ensure the examinations' content reflects the current industry practices, AGA conducted a full-scale Job Analysis Study of the role of the Certified Government Financial Manager. While the core of the examination content remained the same, the three examination content outlines were updated, refreshed and streamlined. The weighting among the sub-content areas within each examination was adjusted, and the language of the content outlines was revised to provide additional depth and detail to support candidates preparing for the examinations. The revised examination content outlines may be found on http://www.agacgfm.org/cgfm/downloads/CGFMExamContentOutlines08.pdf The Job Analysis process is described on http://www.agacgfm.org/cgfm/jobevalstudy.aspx. The updated CGFM Examinations will be offered for the first time at the Intensive Review Course/CGFM Examinations event to take place before the Professional Development Conference in Atlanta on July 24-27, 2008. The updated examinations will be available in Prometric testing centers beginning on August 15, 2008. CGFM Examinations taken prior to that date will follow the existing examinations content outline (see http://www.agacgfm.org/cgfm/exams/). AGA is in the process of revising the three CGFM Study Guides to reflect the updated examinations content outline. The updated study guides will be available in March. More information regarding the study guides update will be posted on the CGFM Examinations update page (<http://www.agacgfm.org/cgfm/examupdate.aspx>). If you have any questions about the examinations update, please visit the CGFM Examinations Update: Frequently Asked Questions page (http://www.agacgfm.org/cgfm/update_faq.aspx) or contact the Office of Professional Certification at 800.AGA.7211, ext. 305.
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CGFM Gets Another Boost in Tennessee: Tennessee is already one of the states that formally recognize the Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) designation. Now, new legislation makes the CGFM certification even more valuable. "Tennessee is the only state in the country that requires all municipalities to produce financial statements conforming to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles," said Ron Queen, MA, CGFM, CPA, Manager of the Division of Local Finance, Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury. "A sophisticated level of knowledge is needed to handle accounting standards that change frequently and complicated financial transactions such as variable rate debt and derivatives." "Some municipalities were having trouble understanding all the accounting requirements," Queen said. The legislation passed in June requires all municipalities to employ a certified municipal finance officer (CMFO) or if total revenues are $300,000 or less, the municipality can contract with a qualified person. To become certified, the officer must undergo 80 hours of course work in 10 areas of government financial management, including debt administration, enterprise resource planning, pension and benefits administration, internal controls and budgeting. Queen said the new legislation will do more than improve the stewardship of financial assets in the state's municipalities. "We also believe that this will improve the status of government financial management with the public by having high standards for government financial managers to meet," Queen said. Finance officers in Tennessee's 346 cities and towns, for the first time, will be mandated to either undergo the training or seek approval for an exemption. That's where the CGFM comes in. Individuals who have earned the CGFM, a CPA, or the Government Finance Officers Association's Certified Public Finance Officer (CPFO) credential are exempt from the educational requirements of the CMFO designation. Queen serves as co-chair of the CGFM committee of AGA's Nashville Chapter. He speculates that the new legislation may prompt more people to earn the CGFM credential because it is transferable across all three levels of government. The 80-hour training program, which will be developed by the Municipal Technical Advisory Service at the University of Tennessee and approved by the Comptroller's Office, is specific to Tennessee municipal governments. In addition, testing facilities for the CGFM are conveniently located throughout Tennessee and in the Nashville area. The Nashville chapter provides incentives, study groups and other supports. The legislation, which was championed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury and the University of Tennessee's Institute of Public Service's Municipal Technical Advisory Service, goes into effect for the largest municipalities in 2010. Read the full text of the bill at http://www.comptroller.state.tn.us/ma/municipalfinanceofficerssb2059.pdf. by Christina Camara
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