Explore the building blocks of financial reporting and budgeting. Experience an encounter with The Dark Side by going inside the mind of the funding authority. Become familiar with financial reporting and auditing basics. Improve and defend your court’s budget and resources in an economic climate in which courts are competing with other agencies for scarce resources. Understand the balance between judicial independence and fiscal responsibility, and learn practical steps courts can take during difficult fiscal times.

Course participants will engage in discussions and exercises designed to develop a broad conceptual understanding of how to manage a court’s financial resources. Topics to be addressed include:

• The judicial branch position in the governmental budget process
• Financial reporting
• How to understand the mind of the funding authority
• Government responsibility for financing courts
• The link between strategic planning and budgeting
• Budget planning, preparation, internal review, presentation, execution, and monitoring—the full cycle

This online course is designed to be self-paced and to build a sequential understanding of managing court financial resources and the skill sets necessary to effectively plan, prepare, present and monitor your court’s budget. The course is organized into a series of 9 units containing video segments, readings, a PowerPoint presentation and self-assessment exercises addressing unit competencies. Course assignments are reviewed by faculty with feedback to reinforce the learning objectives.