M-FVF Guide: Monthly Fieldwork Verification Form

The Monthly Fieldwork Verification Form (M-FVF) is the official BACB document that you and your supervisor must sign every single month you accrue fieldwork hours. It is arguably the most critical piece of documentation in your path to becoming a BCBA. Without a properly completed and timely signed M-FVF, your fieldwork hours for that month simply don't exist in the BACB's eyes, regardless of how many sessions you actually completed.

Think of the M-FVF as a monthly receipt. Your documentation system is the detailed ledger showing every transaction, but the M-FVF is the signed summary that says "yes, these totals are accurate and all requirements were met." You need both, and neither can substitute for the other.

What Information Does the M-FVF Include?

The M-FVF is a structured form with specific fields that must all be completed before signing. Here's a walk-through of every section you'll need to fill out:

• Trainee information: Your full legal name and BACB ID number. Make sure these match exactly what's on file with the BACB. Even a minor discrepancy (like a nickname vs. legal name) can cause processing issues.
• Supervisor information: Your supervisor's full name and BACB certification number. If you're working with multiple supervisors, each one gets a separate M-FVF for the same month.
• Fieldwork type: Whether you're completing Supervised Fieldwork (standard) or Concentrated Supervised Fieldwork. This affects the hour limits and supervision ratios that apply. See our supervision requirements guide for the differences.
• Reporting period: The calendar month being verified (e.g., "March 2026"). The M-FVF covers exactly one calendar month, regardless of your pay period, supervision cycle, or semester schedule.
• State or country: The location where fieldwork occurred. If you accrued hours in multiple states during the same month, check the BACB Handbook for guidance on how to report this.
• Total independent fieldwork hours: The number of hours you worked independently (without your supervisor present) during the month.
• Total supervised fieldwork hours: The number of hours where your supervisor was directly observing or participating. This must meet the minimum supervision percentage for your fieldwork type.
• Total unrestricted hours: Hours spent on activities that count toward the unrestricted category (as opposed to restricted activities).
• Client observation confirmation: A checkbox or attestation confirming that your supervisor directly observed you working with a client during the month. This is a non-negotiable requirement for every month you accrue hours.
• Number of supervision contacts: How many supervision meetings occurred during the month. This must meet or exceed the minimum required for your fieldwork type.
• Signatures and dates: Both the trainee and supervisor must sign and date the form. The dates of both signatures matter because they must fall within the allowable window.

When Is the Signing Deadline?

The M-FVF must be signed by both the trainee and the supervisor no later than the last day of the following calendar month, as outlined in the BCBA Handbook.

Here's how that works in practice:

• Hours accrued in January must have a signed M-FVF by February 28 (or 29).
• Hours accrued in March must have a signed M-FVF by April 30.
• Hours accrued in July must have a signed M-FVF by August 31.

If you and your supervisor sign the document even one day late (say, June 1 for May hours), every hour you accrued that month is invalidated. The BACB offers no exceptions, no grace periods, and no appeals process for missed signing deadlines. This is the single most common reason candidates lose fieldwork hours, and it's entirely preventable.

Our recommendation: set a recurring calendar reminder for the 20th of each month to begin the signing process. That gives you a full 10-day buffer for scheduling conflicts, supervisor vacations, or technical issues with e-signatures.

What If Your Supervisor Won't Sign?

This is one of the most stressful situations a fieldwork candidate can face, and it happens more often than you'd expect. There are a few common scenarios:

• Supervisor is unavailable: Your supervisor might be on vacation, on medical leave, or simply unresponsive near the end of the deadline window. This is why you should never wait until the last week to request a signature. Start the process early in the month.
• Supervisor disputes the hours: If your supervisor believes your reported totals are inaccurate, they have an ethical obligation not to sign. In this case, you need to sit down together, compare your session logs against the M-FVF totals, and resolve the discrepancy. If you've been logging sessions in real time (rather than from memory), this is usually a quick conversation.
• Supervisor has left the organization: If your supervisor leaves their position mid-month, you need to address this immediately — not at the end of the month. Reach out to them directly, because the signing obligation doesn't disappear when someone changes jobs. If you're changing supervisors mid-fieldwork, you'll need a separate M-FVF for the portion of the month each supervisor covered.
• Supervisor's certification has lapsed: If you discover that your supervisor's BCBA certification was inactive during the period in question, those hours are invalid regardless of whether the M-FVF is signed. Verify your supervisor's status through the BACB Certificant Registry.

In all of these scenarios, documentation and communication are your best tools. Keep written records of your attempts to reach your supervisor, and if you're unable to get a signature by the deadline, contact the BACB to ask about your options before the window closes.

What's the Difference Between M-FVF and F-FVF?

Candidates often confuse the Monthly Fieldwork Verification Form (M-FVF) with the Final Fieldwork Verification Form (F-FVF), but they serve different purposes at different points in your fieldwork:

• M-FVF (Monthly): Completed every month during your fieldwork. It verifies that month's specific totals, confirms the client observation occurred, and documents the number of supervision contacts. You'll have one of these for every month you accrue hours, potentially 12 to 24+ forms by the time you finish fieldwork.
• F-FVF (Final): Completed once at the end of a fieldwork segment (i.e., when you finish working with a particular supervisor or complete your entire fieldwork requirement). The F-FVF is the supervisor's final attestation that all fieldwork requirements were met across the entire period they supervised you. It summarizes cumulative totals, not monthly breakdowns.

You need both. The M-FVFs provide the month-by-month detail, while the F-FVF ties everything together at the end. If you're audited by the BACB, they'll typically request both forms along with your underlying documentation system.

One important distinction: the F-FVF is signed by your supervisor, but it doesn't replace the M-FVFs. Even if your supervisor signs a perfect F-FVF confirming 2,000 hours of fieldwork, the BACB will still check whether you have a signed M-FVF for each individual month. There are no shortcuts here.

Common M-FVF Mistakes to Avoid

After helping thousands of candidates track their fieldwork, we've seen the same M-FVF errors come up again and again. Most of them are completely avoidable if you know what to watch for:

• Missing the signing deadline: This is the big one. It doesn't matter how perfect your hours are if the M-FVF is signed one day late. Set reminders, build in buffer time, and treat the 20th of each month as your personal deadline.
• Leaving fields blank: Every field on the M-FVF must be completed. A missing state, an empty supervision-contacts field, or an unsigned line can invalidate the entire form. Double-check every field before submitting for signature.
• Not keeping copies: If your supervisor has the only copy and they become unreachable, you have no way to prove the form was completed. Always keep your own signed copy, digital or physical (ideally both).
• Wrong month boundaries: The M-FVF covers a calendar month, not a supervision cycle or pay period. If your supervision schedule runs from the 15th to the 15th, you still need to split your hours at the calendar month boundary. Sessions on March 31 go on the March M-FVF; sessions on April 1 go on the April M-FVF.
• Using one M-FVF for multiple supervisors: If you work with two supervisors in the same month, you need two M-FVFs for that month, one for each supervisor. Each supervisor can only attest to the hours they personally supervised.
• Rounding or estimating totals: The numbers on your M-FVF should come directly from your session logs. If the totals don't match your documentation system during an audit, both documents lose credibility.
• Forgetting the client observation checkbox: Your supervisor must directly observe you working with a client at least once per month. If this didn't happen, the M-FVF can't be truthfully completed, and checking the box anyway constitutes an ethics violation.

For a broader look at documentation pitfalls, see our guide on common fieldwork mistakes that trip up BCBA candidates.

What Happens If Your Documentation Falls Short?

The M-FVF is not your documentation system. It is a summary verification of the month's totals. You must maintain a separate, detailed log of every single session (including dates, start/end times, activity types, and supervision summaries) to back up the totals reported on the M-FVF. In the event of an audit, the BACB will request both the M-FVFs and the detailed documentation system. For a complete guide on what to track, see our fieldwork documentation guide.

If you switch supervisors mid-month or change fieldwork types (e.g., standard to concentrated), you must complete a separate M-FVF for each supervisor and each fieldwork type. Getting this wrong is one of the most common reasons hours get flagged during a BACB audit, so it's worth getting right from the start.