AGA TOPICS Newsletter

PwC Aims to Take the Hassle Out of Earning CPE

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Washington Federal Practice recommends its employees earn 40 hours of continuing professional education every year. 

With such tough CPE requirements, Carter Pate believes the firm should make earning CPE as painless as possible. He also believes that he shouldn’t ask his employees to do something he himself wouldn’t do.

That’s why Pate, managing partner of PwC’s Washington Federal Practice, brought AGA’s series of three Government Financial Management courses to PwC and announced that he would be attending along with his staff.

The courses, offered in conjunction with Management Concepts, provide a total of 48 CPE hours and also prepare candidates for the three CGFM Examinations. The courses are comprehensive, offering training in government financial reporting and budgeting as well as tying in attest and control issues, Pate said.

The courses are normally offered in eight-hour segments, but Pate worked out an arrangement to change the schedule so the courses could be offered from 4 to 8 p.m. every Wednesday over about four months. Everyone voted on what night would work best, and PwC provides dinner. “We made it about as painless as possible,” Pate said.

The group of 23 is about two thirds of the way through with the courses and at the end all are expected to sit for the CGFM Examinations. Pate has already passed two of them.

“We do have a number of CGFMs already and we thought we would try to show a commitment to our client—the government—by increasing that exponentially,” Pate said. PwC looks for CGFMs when hiring for its Washington Federal Practice, and having professionals on staff who have earned the certification helps the firm market itself to government clients. “I think it helps our win ratio when we’re putting forward our qualifications to the governments,” he said.

Pate said the training partnership with AGA has not only been successful, but “the easiest thing to put together we’ve ever done.” Firms have to do more that just say they are committed to training and professional development. “You’ve got to show some commitment.”

Interesting in bringing AGA’s Government Financial Management courses to your workplace? Contact Pete Aliferis, CGFM, Director of Professional Certification, at paliferis@agacgfm.org or 800.AGA.7211, ext. 100. Another contact is Katya Silver, director of Professional Certification Administration, at ksilver@agacgfm.org or 800.AGA.7211, ext. 313.