diff --git a/examples/llm/sft/hf.py b/examples/llm/sft/hf.py
index 59b8b4ad3491..1d282312b130 100755
--- a/examples/llm/sft/hf.py
+++ b/examples/llm/sft/hf.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 from nemo import lightning as nl
 from nemo.collections import llm
-from nemo.lightning.pytorch.accelerate.transformer_engine import is_te_accelerated, te_accelerate
+from nemo.lightning.pytorch.accelerate.transformer_engine import is_te_accelerated
 from nemo.lightning.pytorch.callbacks import ModelCallback
 
 
@@ -75,16 +75,17 @@ def squad(tokenizer) -> pl.LightningDataModule:
         grad_clip = None
     use_dist_samp = False
 
-    model = llm.HfAutoModelForCausalLM(args.model)
-    tokenizer = model.tokenizer
+    model_accelerator = None
+    if args.model_accelerator == "te":
+        from functools import partial
+        from nemo.lightning.pytorch.accelerate.transformer_engine import te_accelerate
 
-    callbacks = []
-    if args.model_accelerator:
-        if args.model_accelerator == "te":
-            model_transform = ModelCallback(
-                on_train_start=lambda model: te_accelerate(model, fp8_autocast=args.fp8_autocast)
-            )
-            callbacks.append(model_transform)
+        model_accelerator = partial(te_accelerate, fp8_autocast=args.fp8_autocast)
+
+    from nemo.lightning.pytorch.accelerate.transformer_engine import te_accelerate
+
+    model = llm.HfAutoModelForCausalLM(model_name=args.model, model_accelerator=model_accelerator)
+    tokenizer = model.tokenizer
 
     llm.api.finetune(
         model=model,
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ def squad(tokenizer) -> pl.LightningDataModule:
             accumulate_grad_batches=10,
             gradient_clip_val=grad_clip,
             use_distributed_sampler=use_dist_samp,
-            callbacks=callbacks,
+            callbacks=[],
             logger=wandb,
         ),
         optim=fdl.build(llm.adam.pytorch_adam_with_flat_lr(lr=1e-5)),
diff --git a/nemo/collections/llm/gpt/model/hf_auto_model_for_causal_lm.py b/nemo/collections/llm/gpt/model/hf_auto_model_for_causal_lm.py
index c0f02d706ceb..26e4604adc43 100644
--- a/nemo/collections/llm/gpt/model/hf_auto_model_for_causal_lm.py
+++ b/nemo/collections/llm/gpt/model/hf_auto_model_for_causal_lm.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ def __init__(
         tokenizer=None,
         loss_fn=masked_cross_entropy,
         model_transform=None,
+        model_accelerator=None,
         trust_remote_code=False,
     ):
         super().__init__()
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.load_pretrained_weights = load_pretrained_weights
         self.is_hf_model = True
         self.model_transform = model_transform
+        self.model_accelerator = model_accelerator
         self.trust_remote_code = trust_remote_code
 
     @property
@@ -78,6 +80,10 @@ def configure_model(self):
 
             config = AutoConfig.from_pretrained(self.model_name, trust_remote_code=self.trust_remote_code)
             self.model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_config(config, trust_remote_code=self.trust_remote_code)
+
+        if self.model_accelerator is not None:
+            self.model_accelerator(self.model)
+
         self.model.train()
 
     def forward(self, input_ids, attention_mask=None, labels=None, loss_mask=None):