The First Nations Financial Management Board, or FMB, is a dedicated team founded to help First Nations communities across Canada put financial best practices and systems into place through comprehensive capacity development and certification programs.
The Financial Management Board in many cases allows First Nations to examine themselves.
It encourages First Nations to start looking at something other than today, to look to tomorrow, to begin to assess how they're going to achieve their objectives and what kind of resources they need to do so.
And what we then do is provide them with the means for an informed decision-making process that we often refer to as a process-based decision making model versus a personality based.
The Board of Directors for the Financial Management Board comes from across Canada.
We are a national organization.
It is a national piece of legislation.
These directors volunteer to come forward.
They come forward to support the purposes of the Act.
From inquiry to implementation, the FMB is committed to helping communities increase their capacity to support good governance and financial management best practices, achieve the standards required for certification, and in turn gain access to more affordable long term financing.
The FMB and our professional staff are committed to support First Nations through the development of their Financial Administration Law and through the certification services that we offer.
We have tools and various products and services that First Nations can use.
We often host workshops across various regions in Canada.
And of course we liaised with senior staff through the whole certification process.
The support that we received from the First Nations Financial Management Board when we were going through the certification process was very helpful.
The staff came in to our office and met with us frequently to go over every thing that we needed to have for the certification.
We had staff come and make sure that we had the proper documentation to go through.
The staff were very friendly, ready to work with us on anything that we needed to get done.
A client can expect when working with the Capacity Development team to be supported and given the tools and services that they need to become Financial Management System certified.
We provide anything from workshops on specific requirements of your Financial Administration Law to examples and samples of what other clients have done, so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel, and that you can start with what is out there, and what works for you, as you become Financial Management System certified.
FMB standards are drawn from internationally recognized financial management control frameworks and are the backbone of our certification.
We work diligently with communities through consultation to make sure our clients successfully meet these standards.
There are two types of certification that we offer at the FMB.
The first is a Financial Management System certificate.
The second is a Financial Performance Certificate.
Both of these independent certifications are meant to evaluate whether the first nation meets the standards that the FMB have set.
The Standards and Certification team will work closely with First Nations during the certification process.
The FMB is passionate about helping our clients and their communities thrive, grow and innovate through Capacity Development and Certification.
If your First Nation is interested in working with The Financial Management Board, please feel free to give us a phone call or an email and you can speak with us about setting up an in-person presentation in your community.