Community Workshops
Community Based Financial and Administrative Workshops are available for your community. Let us bring our professional training directly to you!
We are very happy to work with you to customize a workshop that suite your needs as well as help with P&ID funding applications that may be available to you.
Please contact us directly at 604-925-6370 to see how we can help!
Essentials of First Nations Financial Management
Workshop goals & topics
Sound financial management is crucial to the success of First Nations economic development and to protect wealth for future generations.
AFOA BC has created a financial management workshop to give First Nations leaders and financial managers a solid knowledge of financial planning and control. The two-day program reviews essential skills of financial management—using exercises, examples and updates on new accounting requirements. Participants will learn about:
- Management principles – Review the underlying principles of financial planning and
control in First Nations operations - Accounting cycles – Learn about accounting cycles and activities for First Nations
- Finance roles and responsibilities – Understand the roles of First Nations leaders and the
finance department in financial organization, planning and control - Fund and business accounting – Learn the differences in fund and business accounting
and when fund accounting is appropriate - Financial management reports – Understand internal and external financial reporting
requirements, and how to read statements to assess financial standing - Auditors – Examine the auditor’s role, process and fees
First Nations Budgeting
Workshop goals & topics
As part of the Budgeting Workshop you will get the chance to create a budget relevant to you, using your own data. This workshop is intended to be hands on, you will create a budget that you will be able to use as a starting point for your actual work situation.
Given the time restraints of the workshop it is suggested that you only do one or two programs in a department and the budget chosen should have between 24-40 items to calculate.
You will need to bring a laptop with you that has excel installed, and an external mouse is strongly recommended.
In order to work with your own budget, it is requested you bring the following data with you:
- 2 or 3 years of past departmental revenue and expenditures statements for the department/program you wish to create a budget for
- An understanding of what outcomes or services were provided in the past 2 or 3 years
- An understanding of what the outcomes or services to be provided in the year you are budgeting for
- An understanding of minimal accepted level of services and what is optimal
- An understanding of any major changes in operations that will occur in the budget year
First Nations Financial Fitness
Workshop goals & topics
First Nations citizens face complex financial issues and need knowledge, skills and confidence to make informed decisions.
AFOA BC has developed a workshop and handbook—Financial Fitness: Your Guide for Getting Healthy, Wealthy and Wise—to empower First Nations to become financially literate. The two day program reviews key areas of financial knowledge and management. Participants will learn about:
- Financial literacy – Learn how being financially fit supports informed financial choices to meet basic needs and plan for the future
- Managing money – Find out about potential income sources, expenses, and how to save money
- Budgets and banking – Discover the difference between needs and wants, how to create a budget, how to organize and track spending, and how to use different bank accounts
- Family matters – Review how to talk to your partner and family about money
- Credit – Learn what’s good and bad about credit cards, how to get out of credit card debt,
and how prepaid credit cards work - Tax returns – Discover how to file a tax return, tax credits and benefits
First Nations Financial Governance and Planning for Chief & Council
Workshop goals & topics
Often, when community leaders are elected, they bring a passion for politics and knowledge of community strengths and challenges. Basic financial literacy skills and a comprehensive understanding of their financial responsibilities (as they relate to
governance, budgeting, reporting, planning, trust funds) are necessary for this important work. This 1-day workshop is designed to help Chief and Council with their understanding of complex financial issues and gain knowledge, skills and confidence to make informed decisions. Participants will learn:
- What is financial literacy and why is it important for Chief and Council
- Financial literacy from an Aboriginal context
- Planning and where finances fit in
- Planning and reporting responsibilities
- Balance sheets and budgets
- Chief and Council Responsibilities
- Contribution Agreements
- Reporting Requirements
- Corporate Responsibility with a FN Development Corporation
- Understanding not-for profit entities and business entities
- How FN communities can use these as mechanisms to meet their economic development needs