Coming Summer 2026 — Self-Paced Webinar
Utility Finance & Accounting for Non-Financial Professionals and Attorneys
A working understanding of finance and accounting in the regulated utility — taught by Joel Berk on video, with new interactive quizzes and content on AI in the utility industry.
Who This Webinar Is For
Anyone at a utility who needs to understand the language of finance and accounting — without an accounting background.
Attorneys
Regulatory, transactional, and litigation attorneys at utilities and law firms who handle ratemaking, M&A, or compliance.
Operations & Engineering
Operations managers, engineers, and project leaders who need to understand the financial impact of their decisions.
Regulatory & Strategy
Regulatory affairs staff, strategic planners, and customer relations leaders working with rate cases or financial reports.
What You’ll Be Able to Do
Upon completion, participants will be able to:
- Understand accrual accounting
- “Read” an annual report of the company or its customers
- Calculate key financial ratios
- See the link between finance and accounting and the strategic plans of the company
- Understand how a utility makes money now and what needs to be done for the future
- Analyze whether shareholder value is being created as opposed to net income
- Do a capital budgeting analysis (engineering economics)
Curriculum
Joel Berk’s foundational curriculum, refined over 40 years of teaching at utilities.
Foundations
- Basic Accounting Concepts: Balance Sheet & Income Statement
- Financial Statement Analysis: ROE, Total Shareholder Return
- The Utility’s Four Sets of Books: GAAP, Tax, Rates, Managerial
Capital & Investment
- Present Value Analysis
- Cost of Capital: WACC, Risk Premium, DCF Method
- Capital Project Analysis Review Case
Ratemaking
- Cost of Service Regulation
- Rate Base, Operating Expenses, Allowed Return
- Above-the-line vs. Below-the-Line Expenses
- Mock Rate Case: advertising, take-or-pay contracts
- Adjustment Clauses, Trackers, Riders, Decoupling, Formula Ratemaking
Shareholder Value
- Theory: Income vs. Shareholder Value Maximization
- Risk Considerations
- How to Make Decisions That Create Value
Ethics
- Ethics Considerations in Utility Finance
Plant & Tax
- Accounting for Utility Plant: Straight-line vs. Accelerated Depreciation
- Capitalization vs. Expense
- Income Taxes: Temporary Differences, Deferred Taxes (Normalization)
New for 2026: interactive quizzes after each module, plus a new section on AI’s impact on the utility industry.
Your Instructor
Dr. Joel Berk
For 40 years, Joel Berk has been the voice of FAI — teaching utility finance and accounting to over 40,000 attendees from more than 1,000 utilities. While Joel is stepping back from live teaching in 2026, his complete curriculum has been preserved on video so the next generation of utility professionals can still learn from him.
Joel is known for making dry topics fun and interesting — and that quality comes through clearly in the recorded lectures.
Continuing Education Credits
CPE Credit for CPAs available for all states.
CLE Credit for attorneys available in most states.
Get Notified as Registration Opens
Enrollment opens in summer 2026. Leave your email and you’ll be the first to know the moment it’s live.