Yankee Chapter of ASMC hosts professional development event

  • Published
  • By Patty Welsh
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  The Yankee Chapter of the American Society of Military Comptrollers held a mini professional development event here Aug. 16.

The overall theme was "Strategic Professional Development within a Fiscally Constrained Environment."

Glenda Scheiner, Human Capital and Resource Management director for the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller), provided the keynote presentation on the DoD Financial Management Certification Program.

"This is the biggest change in the FM [Financial Management] community since the 1940s," she said.

The FM Certification Program is a mandatory program for DoD civilians in the 05XX occupational series assigned to a 05XX occupational series position. For military members, it's mandatory for those with a finance or comptroller specialty serving in a position coded with that specialty.

Scheiner talked about some of the goals of the program.

The program is looking to establish a framework for FM development across DoD, to provide a mechanism for more consistent key training and to encourage career broadening and leadership training.

FM positions will be coded into three levels based on FM and leadership competencies. A combination of courses plus competencies and experience will be used to satisfy the requirements.

The foundation was established based on the 23 DoD FM enterprise-wide competencies. The listing encompasses all the main areas of FM, from accounting and auditing to budgeting and financial reporting. A complete listing can be found on the FM Online website at https://fmonline.ousdc.osd.mil.

Once a person is notified that they are in a position which requires the certification and what level, they have two years to achieve certification.

For the Hanscom workforce, Scheiner pointed out that DoD is looking at how to mesh the requirements with acquisition positions.

"We don't want to de-emphasize acquisition certifications," she said. "Those are very valuable. We're looking at a process for dual certifications."

She said the team working on the FM program has already been working with Defense Acquisition University to map courses to competencies.

"We want to ensure personnel get maximum credit for the work that's already been done."

Scheiner also highlighted the fact that for positions that are coded at level two or three, personnel would not have to go back and take the requirements for level one.

She said personnel can visit the website FM myLearn, which is an e-catalog of courses, to see courses with the competencies mapped. To access FM myLearn, go to the FM Online website and look for the heading, FM myLearn, on the left-hand side of the screen.

DoD is currently in the process of coding positions and conducting a pilot. By January 2013, a phased implementation is planned to be in place with full implementation by March 2014.

"This is a very dynamic environment," Scheiner said, "There is much work to be done. We're working to make a great FM workforce even better."

Some of the other sessions during the mini PDI covered topics such as Earned Value Management, Colors of Money, Budget at SAF and Fiscal Constraints.

During the Fiscal Constraints presentation, Col. Lester "JR" Weilacher, 66th Air Base Group commander, and a "former FMer," reminded the participants that FM is a job appreciated by commanders.

"Don't ever doubt how important the work is that FMers do every day," he said.
More information about the certification program, including the charts Scheiner presented, can be found on the FM Online website. For additional information about the Yankee Chapter of the ASMC, visit http://asmcyankee.org/.