The Naval Postgraduate School offers an intensive 5-day course in defense financial management under the sponsorship of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller) - ASN (FM&C) . The course is part of the Department of the Navy Civilian Financial Management Career Program and Career Roadmaps. 

The Practical Comptrollership Course (PCC) is specifically designed for individuals (civilians and military officers) who are either incumbent or about to report to responsible positions in financial management at the headquarters, major command, or field activity level. The course content reaches across all disciplines involved in financial management and comptrollership including: planning, budgeting, budget execution, fiscal law, accounting, internal controls, auditing and acquisition.

Requirements for Entry

The course is designed for civilian (GS-9 through GS-14 or equivalent pay plan) and military (0-2 and above) financial managers. Quotas are allocated to major commands by ASN(FM&C) through the Financial Management Education Services Specialist (FMB-59). Prospective students should contact their major command comptroller's office for nomination procedures. NPS does not control quotas for this course.

Length of Course

The class is 5 full days in duration starting on Monday morning and ending on Friday afternoon.  Class runs from 8 AM to 4 PM daily.

Professional Credits

Upon completion of the course, students earn 4 Continuing Education Units (CEU) and 40 Continuing Professional Education (CPE) units from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Prior to attending the Practical Comptrollership Course, students are required to complete three prerequisites. Prerequisites information can be found at the ASN (FM&C) web site.  The course itself consists of 5 days (about 40 hours) of instruction, discussion, case studies, scenario building, exercises and exams.  Class begins at 0800 and normally ends at 1600.  For planning purposes, students should schedule return flights on Saturday as the course ends at 1600 on Friday.  

Course content includes:

Foundation: Congressional authorization and appropriation processes, federal budget overview, and historical perspectives

PPBE: Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution System

Funding Mechanisms: appropriations & fiscal law, reimbursables, support agreements, working capital funds, and mission/direct funding.

Execution: contracting and acquisition overview, management of major cost drivers, mid-year review, and year-end closeout.

Accountability: accounting, internal controls, auditing.

Exams

Short exams are given at the end of each lesson to validate and reinforce the course learning objectives.  The course is taught by a member of the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School's Graduate School of Business and Public Policy.  The PCC is assigned CDP number 662T, CIN S-7D-0025.  

Course Text

The instructor will provide advanced guidance to students concerning assignments prior to attending the course.  There is no need for students to download and print the entire textbook for class.  Hard copy textbooks will be provided upon arrival.  However, some students find it useful to print the advanced assignments from the text.  It’s important for students to keep up with the reading both prior to and during the course.  The textbook is provided below:

Practical Financial Management 11th Ed;  A Handbook of Practical Financial Management Topics for the DoD Financial Manager. (November 2011) - 7.0 MB PDF

Admission

Activities should send nominations via the chain-of-command to the major command using the nomination form on the ASN (FM&C) web site . The SF182 is no longer required by ASN (FM&C).  However, it may be required by the local command or major command.  The major command must endorse and send all nominations to the ASN (FM&C).  The nominating activity funds travel and per diem, if applicable.  There is no tuition fee for the course. 

For more information on the course schedules and locations please see Course Schedule for FY 2012 .

 These are the BSO points of contact for each major command under the Chief of Naval Operations and the Marine Corps.  Nominations for this course should be sent via the chain of command to the appropriation Budget Submitting Office (BSO) several weeks prior to the nomination deadline.  Nomination forms are located at PCC Nomination Form .

Quotas are allocated to the major command by ASN Human Capital (FMH-1).  Individuals should request a quota up their chain of command to their major command comptroller.  
In some instances, commands have hosted a course and managed the quotas at their specific location.  This requires advanced planning and coordination with NPS and ASN (FM&C).  This helps the navy save training dollars and accelerates student throughput in a geographical location.  In these situations, the command typically provides the classroom facility, audiovisual and other administrative support.

For admission to the course:  Submit a PCC Nomination Form to your Budget Submitting Office (BSO) via your local Comptroller, except where noted above for Bangor, WA and Naples, Italy.

For quota management or application process announcements and guidance: Contact FMH-1 at FM Development Courses or visit ASN (FM&C) web site.

For instruction and course related matters: E-mail the PCC Instructor