Cash Reserves and Financial Strength
Build the financial strength your utility needs to weather storms, fund capital projects, and earn — or protect — an investment-grade credit rating. This course walks through reserve targets, written financial policies, and the credit metrics rating agencies actually look at, so you can defend your reserve position at the board table and in a rate case.
- 16 lessons across 6 modules · self-paced
- Downloadable course materials
- Flip-card exercise and applied scenarios
- Review questions in each module
- NASBA-compliant final exam (10 questions)
- Certificate of completion (1.50 CPE)
Build a Utility That Can Fund Itself Through the Next Storm, the Next Rate Case, and the Next Bond Issuance
Reserves and financial strength don't happen by accident — they're built through deliberate policy, disciplined multi-year planning, and a clear understanding of how outsiders (rating agencies, regulators, and your own governing board) judge your financial position. This course breaks down the five reserve categories every electric utility should target, shows you how to defend those targets at a rate proceeding, and walks through the credit metrics — DSC, TIER, days cash on hand, equity ratio, and operating ratio — that determine your bond rating.
Whether you're building your first reserve policy or trying to explain to your board why "we have money in the bank" isn't the same as "we have adequate reserves," this course gives you the framework, the benchmarks, and the language to make the case.
- Utility finance staff building or defending a reserve policy
- General managers and CFOs preparing for a rate case or bond issuance
- Governing board members overseeing financial strength
- Consultants and advisors serving municipal utilities
- Anyone who needs to understand how rating agencies evaluate utility credit
Russ Hissom, CPA
Russ Hissom, CPA is a principal of UtilityEducation.com, providing on-demand professional education in FERC, RUS, FASB, and GASB accounting, finance, and ratemaking for electric utilities. With over 35 years of hands-on industry experience, he brings real-world expertise to a modern learning platform trusted by more than 1,000 professionals.
What You'll Be Able to Do After This Course
Watch a Free Lesson Preview
Module 0 introduces the course roadmap and learning objectives for building financial strength at your utility.
Inside the Course
Course introduction, overview, learning objectives, and roadmap — plus downloadable course materials to follow along.
- 0.1 – Introduction: Cash Reserves and Financial Strength
- 0.2 – Welcome! Course Overview and Learning Objectives
- 0.3 – Your Course Roadmap!
- 0.4 – Course Materials
Breaks down the components of municipal utility net position and what they mean for governance and reserve strategy.
- 1.1 – Understanding Municipal Utility Net Position
Covers the five reserve categories and how to calculate target reserve levels within your revenue requirement — reinforced with a hands-on flip-card exercise.
- 2.1 – Cash Reserves and the Revenue Requirement
- 2.2 – Flip-Card Exercise: Reserve Concepts
GFOA best-practice guidance for written financial policies and building a 5-year capital and financial plan, with review questions to check your understanding.
- 3.1 – Financial Policies and Multi-Year Planning
- 3.2 – Review Questions 1
The five credit metrics rating agencies use to evaluate utility bonds, the qualitative factors behind them, and a scenario exercise to apply what you've learned.
- 4.1 – Bond Ratings and Rating Agency Criteria
- 4.2 – Solve This Scenario
Brings the five-pillar financial strength framework together into an action plan, followed by review questions, the course evaluation, and the NASBA-compliant final exam.
- 5.1 – Putting It All Together!
- 5.2 – Review Questions 2
- 5.3 – Course Evaluation
- 5.4 – Final Exam for NASBA Certification (10 questions, 70% to pass)
- 5.5 – What We Learned and Your Next Steps
Trusted by Over 1,000 Utility Professionals
"We used the reserve formula from this course almost line-for-line in our last rate case filing. It gave us the framework and the language to defend our reserve position in front of the board."
"The section on credit metrics finally made bond rating criteria make sense. I can now walk into a rating agency call and actually follow the conversation."
"Russ lays out the five-pillar framework so clearly that our board finally understood why 'money in the bank' isn't the same as 'adequate reserves.'"
"I've worked in utility finance for years and still walked away with a cleaner way to explain net position to new board members."
"Our board took this together and it changed how we talk about reserves at every meeting since. Practical, well-organized, and directly applicable."
"Short, focused, and exactly what I needed before our 5-year financial plan update. The GFOA benchmarks alone were worth the price of the course."
Frequently Asked Questions
Continue Your Development
Part of the New Electric Utility Accounting Professional career track — a structured set of courses to build core electric utility accounting skills. Courses may be taken in any order.
Ready to Build Your Utility's Financial Strength?
Utility Accounting and Rates Specialists, LLC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: NASBAregistry.org .
Requests for refunds must be made in writing within 30 days of purchasing the course. No refunds will be granted after the qualified assessment has been completed. For any concerns, please contact us at 608-628-4020 or at russ.hissom@utilityeducation.com .
Course materials are provided for informational and educational purposes only. They do not constitute legal, accounting, or professional advice. © 2026 Utility Accounting & Rates Specialists, LLC. All rights reserved.