Finance Toolkit
County leaders across South Carolina—and throughout the nation—have faced ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified finance officers and staff. To better understand these issues and identify potential solutions, SCAC recently convened a series of public finance roundtables. These sessions brought together county administrators, finance officers, and representatives from national Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), the Government Finance Officers South Carolina chapter (GFOASC), and auditing firms to share experiences, explore key challenges, and discuss effective strategies.
This toolkit has been developed to offer practical resources and support for counties navigating these workforce and financial management challenges.
Finance Certification Options
Finance officers and staff have two certification options—the Certified Government Finance Officer (CGFO) from GFOASC and the Certified Public Finance Officer (CPFO) from national GFOA.
Explore these certifications in our helpful overviews:
News/Articles
Balancing the Shortfall in the Public Finance Talent Shortage (County Focus, Fall 2025)
Supplemental Staffing and Fractional Operations Model by Warren Hutmacher of Sumter Consulting (County Focus, Fall 2025)
Short Term Interims Help You Think Long Term article by Ron Holifield of Civic Marketplace (County Focus, Fall 2025)
National Resources
GFOA offers a variety of resources to members. Learn about:
- Membership
- Educational Resources
- CPFO certification
South Carolina Resources
Explore GFOASC:
- Membership Opportunities and Benefits
- Conferences and Continuing Education Offerings
- CGFO Certification
SCAC Resources
Potential Interims – Contact SCAC staff for a list of retired South Carolina finance officers who are available to serve on an interim basis.
Finance Officers’ Listserv – The SC County Finance Directors google group is an on online and email-based talk forum for county finance officers to post questions, discuss topics, and exchange county finance related-information with their professional colleagues from counties throughout the state. Hosted by SCAC, all South Carolina county finance directors and their designees are invited to participate. Please reach out to Victoria Dixon at vdixon@scac.sc for more information or to submit a request to be added to this this talk group.
Online Career Center – The Association posts open positions for local governments free of charge up to six months.
Questions?
For additional information or questions, please contact Susan Turkopuls, SCAC Director of Research and Training, at sturkopuls@scac.sc.