SB 827 Fiscal and Financial Training
California's newest training mandate, delivered end to end. Two hours covering budgeting, revenues, debt, pensions, audits, procurement — and a full lesson on the SB 827 implementation and recordkeeping duties the law puts on your agency.
A Brand-New Mandate, With a 2028 Cliff
Signed in 2025 and effective January 1, 2026, SB 827 created a fiscal and financial training requirement that runs parallel to AB 1234 ethics training — same two-hour minimum, same two-year cycle, a different and broader roster of covered people.
Who must take it
Elected officers; members of the legislative body; appointed officials who make decisions or recommendations on financial administration, budgeting, or the use of public resources; local agency executives; and employees the agency designates.
How often
At least two hours of fiscal and financial training, at least once every two years. Officials starting on or after January 1, 2026 must complete it within six months of commencing service.
The 2028 deadline
Officials already in service as of January 1, 2026 have until January 1, 2028 to complete their first course. Agencies that wait will be training their entire covered roster at once, in the same window.
Records & posting
Training records must be kept for at least five years and are public records. Since July 1, 2026, agencies with a website must post clear instructions and contact information for requesting them.
What SB 827 Puts on Your Agency
SB 827 is not only a training obligation for individuals. It assigns the agency a set of annual determinations, notices, and records duties — which is why this course dedicates its longest lesson to implementation.
Two hours of public finance
The training covers the core areas of public finance: municipal budgeting, financial reporting, capital financing, debt management, and the ethical stewardship of public resources. Each has its own lesson here.
Annual covered-role determination
Someone has to decide each year which appointed officials and employees fall inside the definition, and document why. The course walks through a designation standard and a repeatable annual workflow.
Annual training availability notice
Agencies must make covered officials aware that training is available. The course covers the notice obligation alongside the multi-agency case — officials who serve two agencies and whose cycles must not fall between the cracks.
Exemptions, verified not assumed
Officials already subject to comparable position-specific education requirements can be exempt. The course teaches a verification protocol — confirm the legal trigger and the equivalent-training evidence before granting one.
Website posting & request intake
The July 1, 2026 posting deadline has passed. Agencies need instructions and contact information published, plus a workflow for handling the record requests that follow.
Charter cities are not exempt
Applicability questions — charter city status, exempt categories, deadline edge cases — are worked through explicitly rather than left as an exercise, with an applicability check built into the course.
Course Content, Lesson by Lesson
Thirteen lessons, 96 sections, 25 case studies, and 11 retention checks — from the legal foundation through cash management, procurement, and the agency's own SB 827 implementation checklist.
Course Introduction
3 sections
4 min
- Course Introduction
- Proof of Participation
- Course Agenda
Course Overview & Legal Mandates
15 sections · 1 knowledge check
18 min
- The Legal Foundation: AB1234
- AB1234 Adherence Check
- Brown Act and Public Records Act
- Case Study: Closed-Session Spillover
- Transparency in Spending
- Compliance Escalation Protocol
- Case Study: The Lost Receipt
- The New Standard: SB 827
- Charter City Applicability
- AB 1234 and SB 827: Two-Track Compliance Map
- Scope Boundary: Ethics Track vs Fiscal Track
- SB 827 Applicability and Exemption Check
- SB 827 Deadline Edge Cases
- SB 827 Deadline Decision Walkthrough
- Retention Check Quiz
Fiduciary Duty & Financial Administration
6 sections · 1 knowledge check
8 min
- Defining Fiduciary Duty
- Case Study: Personal Priority vs Public Duty
- The Hierarchy of Financial Governance
- Case Study: Unauthorized Financial Directive
- Consequences of Poor Governance
- Retention Check Quiz #2
The Budgeting Cycle
8 sections · 1 knowledge check
10 min
- The Budget as a Roadmap
- Case Study: Program Expansion Without Appropriation
- Decoding the "Funds"
- Case Study: Restricted Fund Backfill Request
- Understanding Fund Balance
- Budget Amendment Controls
- Case Study: Late-Year Amendment Rush
- Retention Check Quiz #3
Fiscal Planning & Forecasting
6 sections · 1 knowledge check
6 min
- Beyond the One-Year Horizon
- Case Study: One-Year Balance, Three-Year Gap
- Forecasting Benefits and Transparency
- Strategy and Structural Deficit Response
- Case Study: Structural Deficit Denial
- Retention Check Quiz #4
Revenues & Taxes
10 sections · 1 knowledge check
12 min
- Revenue Sources
- Property Tax
- One-Time vs Ongoing Revenue Discipline
- Revenue Concentration Risk
- Charges, Fees, and Cost Recovery
- Restricted vs Discretionary Revenue Use
- Monthly Revenue Monitoring and Early-Warning Triggers
- Case Study: Volatile Sales Tax Overcommitment
- Case Study: Fee Revenue Shortfall with Service Commitments
- Retention Check Quiz #5
Capital Financing & Debt Management
5 sections · 1 knowledge check
8 min
- Building the Future
- Case Study: Deferred Maintenance vs New Build Debt
- Debt Issuance Due Diligence
- Case Study: Covenant Risk Ignored
- Retention Check Quiz #6
Pensions & Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB)
5 sections · 1 knowledge check
6 min
- The "Unfunded" Challenge
- Case Study: Pension Cost Shock
- Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB)
- Case Study: Benefit Promise Without Funding Plan
- Retention Check Quiz #7
Audits & Reporting
9 sections · 1 knowledge check
12 min
- The Independent Check
- Single Audit and Federal Awards Basics
- Audit Opinion vs Management Letter
- Material Weakness vs Significant Deficiency
- PBC Readiness and Close Calendar Discipline
- Audit Committee and Public Reporting Cadence
- Case Study: Late Grant Reimbursement and Audit Fallout
- Case Study: Repeat Finding, No Corrective Action
- Retention Check Quiz #8
Cash Management & Investments
5 sections · 1 knowledge check
6 min
- Safety, Liquidity, Yield
- Case Study: Yield Chase During Cash Crunch
- The Prudent Investor
- Case Study: Policy Exception for Higher Return
- Retention Check Quiz #9
Procurement & Contracting
8 sections · 1 knowledge check
9 min
- Spending the Money
- Case Study: Emergency Procurement Misused
- Professional Services vs. Lowest Responsible Bidder
- Case Study: Wrong Selection Method
- Change Orders and Post-Award Oversight
- Case Study: Scope Creep Through Change Orders
- Procurement Red Flags
- Retention Check Quiz #10
SB 827 Implementation & Recordkeeping
15 sections · 1 knowledge check
19 min
- SB 827 Recordkeeping Requirements
- Multi-Agency Service Workflow
- Annual Training Availability Notice
- Annual Covered-Role Determination Workflow
- Designation Standard for Additional Covered Employees
- Exemption Verification Protocol
- Exemption Pathways and Equivalent Training Evidence
- Confirm Local Authority Before Exemption
- Case Study: Exemption Approved Without Legal Trigger
- State-Mandated Cost Planning
- Implementation Checklist for Agencies
- Case Study: Retraining Cycle Missed
- Website Posting and Request Intake Protocol
- Case Study: Website Record Request
- Retention Check Quiz #11
Conclusion
1 sections
2 min
- Conclusion
Course content developed in partnership with MV Cheng & Associates.
Board Members Vote on Budgets They Were Never Taught to Read
SB 827 exists because California local government has repeatedly watched fiscal distress arrive at agencies whose boards had no financial training and no way to recognize the warning signs. A structurally unbalanced budget can look balanced for a year. A pension contribution schedule can look affordable until the discount rate changes. One-time revenue can fund an ongoing program right up until it can't.
This course is built around that failure pattern. Rather than a glossary of finance terms, each lesson pairs a concept with the decision an official actually faces — and then a case study of that decision going wrong: a program expanded without appropriation, a restricted fund backfill request, a covenant risk ignored at issuance, a repeat audit finding with no corrective action, emergency procurement misused.
What officials take away
- How to read fund structure and fund balance well enough to know what money is actually available and what is legally restricted.
- The difference between a one-year gap and a structural deficit, and why multi-year forecasting changes the conversation.
- What an audit opinion does and does not tell you — and why the management letter, material weaknesses, and repeat findings deserve board attention.
- Where the line sits between board policy direction and staff financial administration, and what happens when a member crosses it.
- Procurement red flags, change-order scope creep, and when "lowest responsible bidder" is the wrong selection method.
Two mandates, two tracks — don't merge them
SB 827 also expanded AB 1234 ethics training to department heads. The ethics and fiscal requirements are separate two-hour obligations on separate rosters, and completing one does not satisfy the other. The course maps the two-track compliance picture explicitly so agencies don't count a single completion twice.
Compliance Calendar
SB 827 takes effect
The fiscal and financial training requirement begins, and the ethics training requirement expands to department heads and similar administrative officers.
Officials starting on or after January 1, 2026
New covered officials, executives, and designated employees complete their first fiscal and financial training within six months of commencing service.
Website posting deadline (passed)
Agencies with a website were required to post clear instructions and contact information for requesting training records. Agencies that missed it should post now.
Officials in service as of January 1, 2026
The full incumbent roster must have completed fiscal and financial training. Staggering completions well ahead of this date avoids a queue at the deadline.
Recertification
The course is set to a two-year recurrence in eFile LMS and re-assigns automatically at the end of each cycle.
Pairs With
Ethics Training
The companion mandate: two hours of public service ethics every two years, now reaching department heads under SB 827.
View course → Brown ActBrown Act Training
Open meeting law for the bodies that adopt your budget, including the SB 707 changes taking effect in 2026.
View course → AB 1661 / AB 1825Harassment Prevention — Supervisors
The two-hour supervisor and elected-official course required by AB 1661 and Government Code § 12950.1.
View course → SB 1343Harassment Prevention — Employees
The one-hour nonsupervisory course required of every California employee under Government Code § 12950.1.
View course →References
- Cal. Gov. Code § 53238 — definitions, including what "fiscal and financial training" covers
- Cal. Gov. Code § 53238.1 — two-hour requirement and who is covered
- Cal. Gov. Code § 53238.2 — deadlines for officials in service as of January 1, 2026
- Cal. Gov. Code § 53238.3 — recordkeeping, five-year retention, and website posting
- Cal. Gov. Code § 53238.4 — exemption for officials meeting specified education requirements
- California Legislative Information — SB 827 (2025–2026), Local agency officials: training
This page summarizes statutory requirements for general information and is not legal advice. Requirements change, and their application depends on your agency's structure and local policies. Confirm how they apply with your agency counsel.
Beat the 2028 Deadline
See how eFile LMS assigns, tracks, and documents SB 827 compliance across your covered roster. Book a personalized demo with our team.