Event Profile

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Who Should Attend:

Accounting staff and others who want to understand how each role in the utility impacts the budget and financial statement.

Overview:

This one-and-a-half-day course will take you through the fundamentals of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission/Rural Utilities Service accounting and provide practical examples related to the training. Following the course, you will have a greater understanding of the specifics of FERC accounting requirements and how they apply to the financial statements of the utility.

At the completion of the workshop, you will have a well-rounded view of coding and classifying expenditures, expensing versus capitalizing, reporting, and analysis. You will also be able to view the forward-looking needs of the utility from a financial lens.

Topics:

• An overview of the FERC chart of accounts.
• The fundamentals and philosophies of utility accounting.
• A comparison of traditional corporate financial statements to FERC financial statements.
• Capital expenditures and operating expenditures.
• Analysis of financial reports (balance sheets, statements of operations).
• Accrual accounting and the use of estimation in preparing financial results.
• Identifying the areas of the financial statements with the most significant impacts to the financial results of the utility.
• Correlating the financial accounting results to the ratemaking/revenue process.
• Identification of the components of total utility plant and how to map them to understand the impact of each on the total.
• Examining the correlation between operating margins and balance sheet equity to analyze return on equity and establish margin needs.
• Utilizing ratios to evaluate financial position and to set financial metrics for the utility going forward.
• Identifying and analyzing metrics used by lenders, bondholders, and creditors to evaluate financial health.
• Cash flow analysis.

What to Bring:

• Most recent year-end financial report (Form 7, operating statement, balance sheet, and supporting schedules).
• Most recent annual audit report.
• Additional financial details:
• Number of services in place.
• Number of active billing accounts and number of inactive billing accounts (temporary disconnects).
• Number of idle services.
• Policies relating to financial expectations of the utility.
• Total dollars collected by the utility for aid-to-construction and line extension policy-related payments. (To determine this dollar amount, extract from your system the payments posted to work orders by accounting year. Or, if you invoiced for these payments, use miscellaneous receivables. Or review cash payments by year for payments posted to work order projects.)

Program level: Beginner

Prerequisite: None

Advanced preparation for this webinar is not required

Delivery method: Group Live

Recommended CPE: 10.6

Recommended field of study: Accounting - Technical

Other continuing hours: This course qualifies for 9 continuing hours. NWPPA certificates will be available online upon full completion of the webinar

Instructor:

Teri Wallis, Terilyn Wallis Consulting

Schedule:

Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time the first day. The class will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the first day and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. the second day. Refreshments will be provided both days, and lunch will be provided the first day.

Location:

Northwest Public Power Association
9817 NE 54th Street, Suite 200
Vancouver, WA 98662
(360) 254-0109

Suggested Hotel:

Heathman Lodge
7801 NE Greenwood Drive
Vancouver, WA 98662
(360) 254-3100
Ask for the NWPPA rate for 15% off advertised prices.

Fees:

Canadian utility members, please contact registration@nwppa.org for pricing and to register.

Note: Organizations that register a group of employees will receive every fifth registration for free. For example, if you register five employees, you only pay for four; register 10 employees, you only pay for eight; and so on. There is nothing additional you need to do to receive this discount.

Cancellation Policy:

For in-person events: cancellation at least 30 days prior to the event will receive a full refund; within 15-29 days there will be a $100 fee; and within 1-14 days or no show the charge will be 100% of the registration fee.

When possible, please send a substitute instead of canceling; NWPPA does not charge a fee for substitutions. To request a refund, please contact us at registration@nwppa.org or (360) 254-0109. 

Continuing Hours:

This course qualifies for 9 continuing hours. Certificates are issued upon full completion of the course.