Non-Conference Education

The mission of the WFOA Education Committee is to provide Washington public entities and their staff with professional training in finance, budgeting, accounting, reporting, and other relevant fields. This professional training provides budget and finance professionals the opportunity to meet face-to-face, exchange ideas with others, and enhance their knowledge which will assist them in promoting the professional management of government financial resources. The professional educational opportunities also enable our members to maintain their status as Professional Finance Officers, CPAs, and/or other similar professional designations. If you would like to join the Education Committee or have questions about educational courses offered, please contact the Education Chair at educationcommittee@wfoa.org.

Upcoming 2025 Educational Opportunities

WFOA – Training Opportunities

BARS - Cash/GAAP Webinar

Tuesday, July 22, 2025
9:00am - 4:00pm

$125 Member / $175 Non-Member

This class will be presented online. Specialists from the Office of the Washington State Auditor will present an overview of the BARS Manual and the reporting requirements for the governments that use it. This class is intended for both cash and GAAP basis governments. The State Auditor’s Office presents the course materials for people with varying levels of governmental accounting knowledge and experience, from novice to expert.

After taking this class, attendees will be able to:

Explain the purpose of the BARS Manual and why it is required
Navigate and search the BARS Manual
Employ fund accounting, including identifying and evaluating fund types
Identify the four types of interfund activities
Use the BARS Chart of Accounts and generate BARS codes as prescribed
Understand the annual online filing reporting requirement

Intermediate Excel (Complex Functions) Webinar

Wednesday July 23, 2025
9:00am - 11:00am

$50 Member / $75 Non-Member

This class will be presented online. Steve Rogers, Finance Manager for Kitsap 911 will present an interactive course covering a wide range of topics progressing to more advanced topics like pivot tables, charts, conditional formatting, advanced formulas, and macros. Before registering in the intermediate course, please be sure you are accomplished at the tasks outlined in Beginning Excel.

Intermediate Excel Webinar
Specific Topic - Conditional formatting, advanced tables and graphs
The focus in this class will be in data presentation and analysis

Tuesday August 12, 2025
9:00am - 11:00am

$50 Member / $75 Non-Member

Intermediate Excel Webinar
Specific Topic - Lookups, references, and conditional functions
The focus in this class will be in data retrieval, manipulation, and interpretation

Tuesday August 19, 2025
9:00am - 11:00am

$50 Member / $75 Non-Member

Federal Award Requirements (Includes Grants)

Tuesday, October 7, 2025
8:00am - 3:00pm

$125 Member / $175 Non-Member

This class will be presented online.

This Class covers the essentials of the federal requirements for managing, spending and auditing federal awards. The authoritative set of requirements, found in Part 200 of Title 2 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, is called the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards – or more commonly, the “Uniform Guidance.”

The objectives of this class are for participants to get an overview of the most important and common compliance requirements and learn where to keep reading about the areas most applicable to them. In this way, local governments can better understand the Uniform Guidance, which will help them design effective internal controls to meet these requirements and better manage their federal awards.

Topics covered:

Introduction to the Uniform Guidance (including high-level information on the 2024 revisions)
Understanding the Uniform Guidance Cost Principles
Overview of the common administrative requirements
Essentials for implementing internal controls
Preparing the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards
Details about the federal single audit
Available resources

BARS - GAAP/Cash - In person class

October 28, 2025
8:30am - 5:00pm

Rose Hill Community Center
304 Lincoln Ave Mukilteo, WA 98275

$175 Member / $225 Non-Member

This class will be presented in person. Specialists from the Office of the Washington State Auditor will present an overview of the BARS Manual and the reporting requirements for the governments that use it. This class is intended for both cash and GAAP basis governments. The State Auditor’s Office presents the course materials for people with varying levels of governmental accounting knowledge and experience, from novice to expert.

After taking this class, attendees will be able to:

Explain the purpose of the BARS Manual and why it is required
Navigate and search the BARS Manual
Employ fund accounting, including identifying and evaluating fund types
Identify the four types of interfund activities
Use the BARS Chart of Accounts and generate BARS codes as prescribed
Understand the annual online filing reporting requirements

Please bring a laptop or other device to participate in the class exercise.

Thwarting ACH Fraud - Why even your best efforts may not be Enough

November 4, 2025
9:00am - 12:00pm

$75 Member / $100 Non-Member

This class will be presented online. Join industry experts and your peers as we talk through various aspects of setting up, maintaining, and protecting your ACH process. We will discuss physical and digital safety along with best practices for both AP and Payroll for setting up and maintaining ACH payments.

Schedule 06

Thursday, November 13, 2025
10:00am - 11:00am

$25 Member / $50 Non-Member

This class will be presented online. Specialists from the Office of the Washington State Auditor will present an overview of the Schedule 06, the Summary of Bank Reconciliations. This schedule is a required component of the annual report for all cash basis cities and counties. This training will cover a walkthrough of the schedule, common questions, troubleshooting tips and resources offered by our Office for the completion of the Schedule.

Public Funds Investing for Beginners Webinar

December 9, 2025
9:00am - 12:00pm

$75 Member / $100 Non-Member

This class will be presented online. Public Funds Investing Explained. There are many important questions facing public entities regarding their investments. The Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP) yield is beginning to drop and will likely fall further, but why is that happening? What are the main drivers of the LGIP yield, and interest rates more broadly, moving up or down at any given time? Perhaps most importantly, what can you do to diversify and protect your entity’s investments against interest rate movements?

This class will tackle all these topics and more, including:
•   How the Federal Reserve impacts interest rates and your entity’s investments
•   What public entities can invest in outside of the LGIP to provide diversification, namely bonds
•   The basics of how bonds work as investments to provide stability and diversification to your portfolio
•   How to structure your entity’s investments to meet the hierarchy of public funds investing needs of 1) Safety; 2) Liquidity; 3) Yield

The topic of investing can be complicated, but we break down these topics in easy-to-understand ways free from confusing jargon. This class is geared towards demystifying public funds investing and teaching you what you need to know to manage your entity’s investments safely and efficiently.

Intermediate Accounting Webinar

December 11, 2025
9:00am - 12:00pm

$75 Member / $100 Non-Member

This class will be presented online by Bret Brodersen. Bret is the Finance Director for the City of Centralia. He teaches accounting at the local community college. Bret is a current WFOA Board member, chair of the Professional Rules and Operational Standards Committee.

Class topics:

The Intermediate Accounting class will cover the basics of financial reporting. Included are:
Basic Financial Statements overview
Balance Sheets
Income Statements
Statement of Cash Flows

Webinar criteria to be eligible for CPE:

Each attendee must register with their email
Must be logged into the ZOOM webinar with their registered email
Have the Zoom meeting on their active screen in order to answer the polling questions.
- Three polling questions will be administered for every 50 minutes in order to be eligible for 1 CPE. (Example – 4 hour session will have 12 polling questions).

Registration Cancelation Policy

Cancelation/substitution requests must be received in writing by Admin@wfoa.org. In-person events, a refund is available until 14 business days less a $20 administrative fee. Webinar events, a refund is available until 3 business days less a $20 or 25% of registration fee, whichever is less. No refund will be issued after the business days listed but can be appealed in writing. The appeal can take up to 45 days for determination. Substitutions after the business days listed may be allowed for a $10 fee.