Professional Spirit 

Financial Management

Professional Spirit

The Aboriginal Financial Officers Association is growing strong with certified aboriginal financial managers maintaining financial accountability across the country.

FROM: JAN-FEB 2003 ISSUE | BY ALISON ARNOT

The Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of Canada (AFOA) was born in July 1999, and since then, its membership has grown to more than 500 certified aboriginal financial managers (CAFMs) or those studying toward certification.

"People who have obtained the designation are just over the 200 mark," the AFOA's president and chief operating officer, Daniel Ryan, proudly points out. "That's a pretty important milestone in terms of support from First Nations communities and aboriginal organizations across the country. We are building on that momentum."

A CAFM himself, Ryan is now working toward his CGA designation. "I'm just starting the process online," Ryan says. "I know it's going to be a challenge, but one that I look forward to undertaking. I'm glad the online option is available. It's so much more practical to study on my own time and around my business schedule." Those who have attained their CAFM designation are at the third-year CGA level. Once they have received their CAFM, they can continue their studies toward a CGA.

The establishment of the AFOA is the result of the work done by the CGA-Canada/Assembly of First Nations Accountability Project. Formed in 1998, the project's mandate was to provide the foundation for implementing First Nationsself-government and to establish a new fiscal relationship between First Nations and Canada. Its crowning achievement was the incorporation of a federal non-profit member association, the AFOA, which created the CAFM professional program and designation to help ensure First Nations financial officers and managers can improve their professional training and competencies.

So who are these 200-plus CAFMs and what kind of work are they doing? They are spread from coast to coast and work in various financial management capacities, for First Nations communities or for the more than 25,000 aboriginal businesses located across Canada. Four of these financial managers, who also hold a CGA designation, have provided a snapshot of their work experiences.

Tammy Drew, CAFM, CGA, was in high school when she noticed that the director of finance for her First Nation, the Miawpukek First Nation of Newfoundland and Labrador, was a non-native person. Knowing that the First Nation's employment policy was to have all native employees, she made it her goal to get the qualifications necessary for that position. She got a diploma in accounting from the College of the North Atlantic, then took a job as project accountant with her First Nation located on the south coast of Newfoundland about 560 kilometres from St. John's. She then entered the CGA program, studying part time and receiving her designation in 1996.

In 1998, Drew did indeed become the Miawpukek First Nation's director of finance. "Family support, First Nation chief and council support helped me achieve my goals, along with a personal commitment and dedication to my education and career," Drew says. "I want to help the chief and councils improve our community, and whatever I need to learn to achieve this I will endeavour to accomplish," she adds.

At age 31, the single mother of two girls, Sarah (13) and Jasmine (nine), is currently the First Nation'sgeneral manager, responsible for all band programs, including the finance department. "I work closely with the current director of finance, Yvonne John, who is also a CAFM. My role with financial management is more at the macro level, but can be day-to-day as needed," she says.

When asked about the need for a CAFM designation, Drew says, "I believe that awarding the achievement (education and experience) of those involved in day-to-day financial management for First Nations is very important. It is a milestone and the first goal that those working in First Nations financing should aim for."

Jean Vincent, CA, CAFM, CGA, president and general manager of the Native CommercialCredit Corporation in Wendake, Quebec, a native community near Quebec City, echoes Drew's thoughts. "When you work for an aboriginal community or any aboriginal organization, if you want to help your communities to develop, I think it is very important to have all the skills necessary to do a good job. And I think that getting the CAFM designation is a good start in order to get the level of required skills," he says.

After finishing CEGEP (Quebec junior college), Vincent began his career with the National Bank, then moved to the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. He realized he needed more education so he studied part-time while continuing to work, receiving his bachelor in business administration degree from Laval Universityin 1989 and CGA designation in 1990.

Vincent has been head of the Native Commercial Credit Corporation, a small financial institution that provides commercial financing for aboriginal businesses across Quebec, for 10 years; however, he has been involved in aboriginal economic development for closer to 20. He worked as an economic development officer for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs from 1982to '86, then was the director of the economic development program for the Huron-WendatFirst Nationfrom 1986to '92. This program put the credit corporation in place. "The Native Commercial Credit Corporation provides developmental lending to native entrepreneurs across the province," says Vincent, who is chair of the native benefits plan, chair of the Quebec native venture capital partnership, as well as vice-chair of the AFOA.

On the other side of the country, in Port Alberni, B.C., Jay Norton, CAFM, FCGA, partner in the public practice firm DeGruchy, Norton & Co., has been in charge of audits of six First Nations and one tribal council. His firm serves First Nations communities mainly in the Port Alberni area, though its staff does venture out to communities on Vancouver Island's western shores.

Although he has been in public practice for almost 30 years and has been actively involved with CGA-Canada and in the development of the AFOA, Norton describes his career beginnings as rather inauspicious. "I stumbled into it," Norton says, adding that when he was about 21, he found himself unemployed, so he enrolled in a bookkeeping course, which led him to the CGA program.

Although the bulk of Norton's work is with aboriginal communities, he is not a member of First Nations himself. The CAFM designation is not reserved for members of First Nations; a member simply has to be involved in aboriginal financial management. Daniel Ryan points out that about 85 per cent of AFOA members are aboriginal.

For Gordon Ferguson, ALA, CFP, CAFM, FCGA, senior partner with EPR Gordon C. Ferguson & Co. in Slave Lake, Alberta, having the CAFM designation makes sense given that a lot of his clients are aboriginal-owned businesses. "We do a lot of First Nations auditing," says Ferguson, who is originally from Kelowna, B.C. "It's the nature of the area." Slave Lake is approximately a two-and-a-half-hour drive north of Edmonton.

Ferguson was working for a public practice firm when he was encouraged to pursue his CGA designation. "I ended up buying that practice," he says, indicating that, almost 20 years later, he now has a staff of 15 serving the northern Alberta area.

Ferguson, who was co-chair of the CGA/AFN Accountability Project, says he is pleased with the AFOA's growth. "The association is becoming a leader in aboriginal financial management," he says. "In light of looming self-government coming for First Nations, financial management is never more important than now. The education of First Nations people's in financial management is very important so that they don't have to rely so much on third parties."

Ferguson says he has seen a significant change in First Nations financial management in recent years. "When I started the auditing business, we basically had to do a lot of the bookkeeping. We'd repair the books prior to doing the audit. Now some of the First Nations have impeccable records. They have well-trained people and some good policies in place. In the last few years there has really been an improvement. I think the AFOA plays a key role in that and will continue to."

Out on Vancouver Island, Jay Norton agrees with Ferguson's perception. "I've been doing First Nations work for probably most of my 29 years [in practice]," Norton says, "I've been around the block as far as First Nations financial management goes, and I've seen the polar extremes from really, really good to yuck... In the last 10 or 15 years, a fair whack [in terms of maintaining financial accountability] has been downloaded on the First Nations, which, on the one hand, is a really good thing because it gives them more control of their affairs. But, at the same time, a lot of the First Nations just kept dealing with the same bookkeepers, and they got a bit overwhelmed." Norton says First Nations are now paying more attention to that area by hiring qualified financial officers and doing some strategic management planning.

All the CAFMs spoken to see the AFOA as having an important role in leading aboriginal financial managers and maintaining this financial accountability. "The AFOA should be for aboriginal organizations and communities what CGA is for Canadian organizations," says Jean Vincent. "We pursue the same goals. We want to improve people's skills."

Tammy Drew, who has also been actively involved with the AFOA, sees the training the association provides as its most valuable aspect. "It is very important to develop adequate First Nations financial management at the clerical and management level of a First Nation. There have been many factors involved in financial accountability, but having untrained staff was an important factor. Now with the AFOA providing support and a means to educate through distance learning, with day-to-day aboriginal content, the staff has somewhere to turn."

President and COO Daniel Ryan says the number of professional people who already have designations and are pursuing the CAFM is living proof that the association is on the right track. He gives credit for the AFOA's success to the CGA/AFN Accountability Project and the people who were involved in coming up with the idea and making sure it came to fruition. He adds, "Maintaining that intent and spirit is fundamental to what we do at the AFOA."

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Alison Arnot is a freelance writer and editor based in Ottawa.