# Budget Execution Course Canonical URL: ## Overview Federal agencies/departments are under more scrutiny than ever before to execute their performance budgets efficiently and effectively. Federal employees involved with the budget process must understand and stay proficient in all aspects of budget execution. This course covers key events including preparation in executing the budget, distributing budget authority, receipt of allotments/allocations, obligating and expensing budget authority and reacting to unanticipated events during the budget execution year, monitoring and tracking performance, mid-year review and reprogramming actions, and finally, reporting and year-end closeout. Students will review current budget execution policy and guidance published in OMB’s Circular A-11; learn about the principles of purpose, time, and amount that govern how federal agencies can properly use appropriated funds ensuring compliance with legal and budgetary constraints; and the relationship between performance plans/goals and operating budgets. ## What you'll learn - Prepare or recommend quarterly apportionment requests for appropriated funds. - Distribute funding within your organization using allotments and other funding distribution documents. - Execute a budget legally, with respect to purpose, time, and amount under continuing resolution authority (CRA) and regular appropriations. - Certify fund availability on reimbursable orders, contractual agreements, and other commitment and obligating documents. - Monitor and analyze day-to-day budget execution from commitment, obligation, receipt of goods or services, to payment or liquidation of obligations. - Develop an initial financial plan for your organization and modify it based on actual execution. - Recommend transfers of funds, reprogramming actions, budget amendments, and supplemental funding requests as needed to respond to changing situations. - Participate in periodic budget execution reviews and year-end closeout activities. ## Curriculum #### Module 1: Overview of the Federal Budget Process - Module 1 learning objectives - The changing budget environment - Purposes of the federal budget - Size and composition of the federal budget - Receipts (revenue) - Expenditures (outlays) - Surplus, deficit, and debt - Competition for funding - Evolution of the federal budget and financial management structure - Key players in the budget process - Key central agency budget process related guidance - Phases of the organizational budget cycle - Budget formulation - Congressional action - Budget execution - Pipelines of budget authority receipt and usage - The purposes of organizational budgets - Presidential role in the budget execution phase - Deferrals - Rescissions - Principles of appropriation law - Impact of federal appropriations law on legal obligation of funds - Review exercise #### Module 2: Overview of the Budget Execution Process - Module 2 learning objectives - Types of appropriation acts and sequence of execution events - Appropriation act - Appropriation warrant - Apportionment - Allotment - Sub-allotment or allocation - Resource manager or fund certifying official - Commitment - Obligations - Receipt and acceptance of goods and services — referred to as expended appropriation - Invoice received - Voucher preparation - Document matching and certification - Outlay - Internal controls - Administrative control of funds - Federal employee ethical standards #### Module 3: Development, Modification, and Distribution of an Operating Plan - Module 3 learning objectives - Budget development overview - GPRA and the budget - Mission statement - Strategic plan (or goals) - Performance budget - Performance and accountability reports (PAR) - Reasons for budget modifications - Purposes of an operating plan - Accommodating budget changes - Step 1, step 2, step 3, step 4, step 5 - Apportionment process - Requirement - Hint - Special remarks/requirement #### Module 4: Monitoring and Tracking Performance - Module 4 learning objectives - Overview — how an operating plan can be used during budget execution - What should be monitored and tracked — financial metrics - What should be monitored and tracked — performance metrics - Work measurement (workload) - Unit cost measurement (efficiency) - Productivity index measurement (effectiveness) - Effectiveness - Productivity improvement - Improving productivity - Special situations and factors affecting monitoring and tracking - Special note on full-time equivalents (FTE) - Special note on earmarks - Special note on operating under a continuing resolution - Special note on year-end spending - Preparing, presenting, and following up the mid-year review (MYR) #### Module 5: Responding to Unanticipated Events and Potential ADA Violations - Module 5 learning objectives - Understanding factors that could affect your programs - External factors - Internal factors - Overview of reprogramming and transfer - Adhering to criteria for reprogramming - Cost considerations - Operational impact considerations - Displaying information - Understanding ADA - ADA and budget execution #### Module 6: Managing Reimbursable Work and Contractual Agreements - Module 6 learning objectives - Overview of reimbursable operations - Entering into agreements - Paying for orders - Obligating an appropriation - Crediting payments - Budgeting for reimbursable work - Overview of revolving fund operations - Overview of contracting - Categories of services contracts - The contracting process - Types of contracts #### Module 7: Preparing for Year-End Closeout - Module 7 learning objectives - Understanding unused budget authority - Responding to possible ADA violations at year-end - Agency reporting requirements - Standard Form 133 report #### Module 8: Federal Budget Execution Summary - Summary and review of budget execution process ## Schedule - Jun 23, 2026 – Jun 25, 2026 — Live Online - Aug 10, 2026 – Aug 12, 2026 — Live Online - Sep 1, 2026 – Sep 3, 2026 — Live Online - Nov 4, 2026 – Nov 6, 2026 — Live Online ## Instructors ### Alan B. Robinson — Instructor Mr. Robinson is a seasoned legal and federal employment expert with over two decades of experience. He recently retired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, where he spent 11 years as Deputy Director/Director for the Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity (ODEO) and 8 years as Chief of Employee and Labor Relations. In these roles, he provided extensive guidance on federal employment matters, showcasing his deep expertise in labor relations and diversity initiatives. A graduate of the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Government, Mr. Robinson earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Maryland School of Law. He is licensed to practice law in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Before his federal service, he built a robust legal career, starting as a law clerk for the Baltimore City Orphan’s Court, followed by 10 years as a civil defense litigator with a D.C. law firm, and later operating his own solo practice for 5 years. His private practice focused on representing federal agencies, employees, municipalities, and private entities in employment-related cases before the EEOC, Merit Systems Protection Board, and various courts. Currently, Mr. Robinson shares his wealth of knowledge as an adjunct instructor with the Graduate School USA and serves as a registered arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). His extensive background in law, federal employment, and diversity makes him a valuable resource in his field. ### Kent Miller — Instructor Kent D. Miller, Jr., MBA, CDFM-A, is a highly accomplished financial management expert and educator with over 40 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. A retired U.S. Army officer, Kent has held leadership roles such as Controller/CFO for the U.S. Army Missile Command and Program Manager/Financial Analyst for the Assistant Secretary of the Army. His expertise spans budgeting, cost analysis, managerial accounting, and financial systems implementation. Notably, he managed a $9 billion organization, supervised a financial staff of 150, and developed funding requirements and congressional testimony for senior Army leadership. Kent’s career also includes consulting and training, where he has developed over 50 courses and taught more than 20,000 students from federal agencies and contractors. As an adjunct instructor at Graduate School USA since 2005, Kent specializes in financial management training for federal employees. His courses cover a wide range of topics, including appropriations law, budget formulation and execution, and performance-based budgeting. Kent’s teaching is informed by his extensive experience in planning, programming, and budgeting, as well as his work in reengineering processes to achieve cost savings. He is also a Certified Defense Financial Manager with Acquisition Specialty (CDFM-A) and has been recognized for his leadership in professional organizations such as the Society of Defense Financial Management and the Association of Government Accountants. ### Alan McCain — Curriculum Program Manager Alan McCain is a retired combat veteran who served as both an Air Force enlisted member and a Navy officer. He brings over 30 years of experience spanning federal and commercial budgeting, auditing, programming, operations, global logistics support, supply chain and inventory management, as well as major IT acquisition. He possesses extensive, hands-on budget and audit experience across Federal, State, and Local government operations, including work within the Executive Office of the President and the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Education, as well as the Office of the Mayor of Washington, D.C., among others. Alan’s consulting background includes strategic planning and business development with the District of Columbia government, multiple federal agencies, Lockheed Martin, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is a Certified Government/Defense Financial Manager (CGFM/DFM), holds a Teaching Certification from Harvard University’s Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, and earned an Executive MBA in International Business from The George Washington University. ## Pricing **Tuition:** $1199