CPFA flashcards
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- CPFA credential
- Certified Public Finance Administrator, a professional credential for public-sector treasury and finance staff, awarded after meeting eligibility, application, and examination requirements set by the certifying association.
- ACPFA designation
- Advanced Certified Public Finance Administrator, an elevated credential requiring the CPFA plus additional documented experience and education in public finance administration.
- Cut score
- The passing standard set by subject-matter experts through standard-setting; candidates are compared to this standard rather than to each other.
- Scaled score
- A converted score that places results on a common scale across exam forms, so a raw percentage of correct answers is not the reported result.
- Candidate handbook
- The authoritative document listing eligibility, fees, exam windows, question counts, and scheduling procedures; candidates should rely on the current edition.
- Recertification cycle
- The fixed period, commonly three years, during which a certificant must earn continuing education and document professional practice to keep the credential active.
- CPE documentation
- Records proving continuing education: provider name, activity title, date, hours, and topic, retained for at least one full cycle in case of audit.
- Carryover cap
- A limit on how many excess continuing education hours from one cycle may be applied to the next; excess hours beyond the cap are forfeited.
- Lapse and reinstatement
- Failing to recertify by the deadline usually requires a reinstatement fee within a grace period; exceeding the grace period may require re-examination.
- Ethics hour requirement
- A portion of required continuing education that must cover ethics or fraud topics rather than general finance subjects; the split is set by the certifying body.
- Investment policy objectives
- The ranked goals of a public investment policy: safety of principal first, liquidity second, yield last; yield is never the primary objective.
- Whitelist approach
- A policy that lists every permitted investment and prohibits anything not listed, which is safer than listing prohibited instruments only.
- Weighted average maturity
- A portfolio limit measuring average time to maturity across holdings; paired with a maximum maturity for any single security.
- Diversification limit
- A cap on the percentage of the portfolio held in any single issuer, sector, or instrument type, reducing concentration risk.
- Annual policy review
- A required yearly re-examination of the investment policy by the governing body, with any changes formally adopted and documented.
- Segregation of duties
- Splitting authorization, custody of assets, and recordkeeping among different people so no single person controls a transaction end to end.
- Dual custody
- A control requiring two people to be present for high-value counts, safe access, or transfers, with both signing the record.
- Intact deposit
- Depositing receipts in the exact form received, without using currency to cash checks or make change for disbursements.
- Imprest petty cash
- A fixed fund replenished only for the exact total of approved vouchers, keeping the fund balance constant.
- Positive pay
- A bank service that matches presented checks or ACH items against a file the organization issued, flagging exceptions for approval before payment.
- Fraud triangle
- The three conditions behind occupational fraud: pressure or incentive, opportunity, and rationalization; controls chiefly reduce opportunity.
- Tip hotline
- A confidential reporting channel; tips are the most common detection method for occupational fraud, ahead of audits and internal controls.
- Fictitious vendor scheme
- A fraud in which an employee creates a fake supplier, approves invoices, and diverts payments, often hiding the vendor in the master file.
- Duplicate payment
- Paying the same invoice twice, detected by matching invoice numbers, amounts, and vendor data across payment runs.
- Red flag
- A warning indicator such as refusing vacation, living beyond means, or a vendor address matching an employee address, prompting closer review.
- COSO components
- The five elements of internal control: control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring activities.
- Preventive control
- A control applied before or during a transaction, such as an approval or a system edit check, that stops errors from entering the records.
- Detective control
- A control applied after the fact, such as a bank reconciliation or audit sample, that identifies errors or fraud already in the records.
- Compensating control
- An alternative safeguard used when segregation of duties is impractical, such as independent supervisory review of a clerk's work.
- Audit trail
- The documented path from a recorded transaction back to its supporting invoice, approval, and proof of receipt, allowing reconstruction.
- Service standard
- A published, measurable commitment such as a response time or counter wait target, used to evaluate customer service performance.
- Complaint log
- A register recording each complaint, its date, the investigation, the response, and the resolution, enabling trend analysis and accountability.