CPFO - Planning and Budgeting Outline

Certification

CPFO - Planning and Budgeting Outline

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The Planning and Budgeting exam for the CPFO program covers fundamental aspects of planning, budgeting, and monitoring and includes policies and processes recommended for local governments. The exam will cover best practices in defining priorities, developing goals, engaging stakeholders, forecasting costs and revenues, allocating resources for operating and capital, communicating budget decisions, and monitoring both performance and financial outcomes. Specific topics will emphasize long-term planning, financial sustainability, and transparency.

Planning and Budgeting Outline

Sub-Topic	Detail	Percentage Weighting
Overall Governance	What is a budget? Roles and Responsibilities Legal Requirements	5%
Planning	Overall Budget Policies Strategic Planning CIP Long-Term Planning / Forecasting (Long-Term)	10%
Revenue	Revenue Diversification Taxes / Fees Grants	15%
Budget Process	Approaches to Budget Process Public Engagement Priority Setting / Goal Definition Budget Calendar / Structure How to Cut the Budget?	15%
Budget Analysis	Forecasting (Annual Projections) Fiscal Impact Analysis / Cost Benefit Analysis Policy Analysis / Economic Analysis	10%
Budget Techniques	Basis of Budgeting (GAAP Accounting vs. Non-GAAP Budget) Funds (Transfers / Allocations) Cut-Back Budgeting / Budget Reductions General Fund vs. Enterprise Fund Capital Budget / Project Budget Personnel/Salary Budget	15%
Budget Monitoring	Variance Analysis Budget Projections and Analysis Performance Management	10%
Communications	Budget Document Internal Communications Understanding of Financial Statements and Accounting Elected Official / Public Communications and Reporting	10%
Budget Outcomes	Measuring Outcomes / Accountability Equity Transparency	10%

Candidates taking the planning and budgeting exam should have an understanding of the processes used by local governments to prepare the budget including strategies for long-term planning, public engagement, and policy analysis. In addition, knowledge of post-budget adoption functions including communications, budget monitoring and performance management will be included.

Emphasis will be on best practices in budgeting and how organizations can better utilize the budget process as a plan for allocating resources to align with priorities and needs and how the budget process can be used to promote overall engagement, transparency, and accountability. GFOA has numerous best practice statements, publications, research reports and articles on how to improve the budget process.

Local Government Revenue Sources

City governments throughout the United States collect revenue from a variety of sources including taxes, user charges, intergovernmental payments, and various other sources. Depending on specific services offered by the City and the unique regulatory and political environment the specific source of revenue can vary considerably from government to government. GFOA has prepared the following revenue dashboards for cities with populations over 10,000 from publicly available United States Census Bureau data.

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Fiscal First Aid

GFOA provides a series of research reports focused on Fiscal First Aid strategies to assist governments in dealing with fiscal crisis.

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Financial Foundations Framework

GFOA's Financial Foundations Framework provides an alternative approach to budgeting based on collaboration and building trust.

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GFOA Materials Library

User GFOA's material's library to browse articles, research papers, tools, and templates for additional information on planning and budgeting

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