Applicants for an FSA FO loan must be willing to complete additional production and financial management training if FSA determines it’s needed. FSA does not require additional training for people who have completed coursework or have experience in production and financial management. Applicants generally need to work one-on-one with their loan officer to determine if and what additional training the applicant will need to complete.
For entity applicants, FSA will start by looking at whether one owner is solely responsible for production or solely responsible for financial management. In that case, FSA will determine whether that individual needs additional training. FSA will only require owners who are responsible for financial and production management to receive training in such areas.
If production and financial responsibility are shared among owners, FSA will look at the training of those persons to see if additional training is required. To assist FSA in determining who is responsible for what, entity applicants should consider drafting job descriptions and incorporating references to the owners’ jobs and descriptions into the entity’s governance document.