diff --git a/megatron/model/utils.py b/megatron/model/utils.py
index 33937f9ad..75777c54c 100644
--- a/megatron/model/utils.py
+++ b/megatron/model/utils.py
@@ -25,8 +25,15 @@
 import torch.distributed as dist
 
 
-def get_params_for_weight_decay_optimization(module, neox_args):
-    """Divide params into with-weight-decay and without-weight-decay groups.
+import importlib
+from typing import List, Dict, Any, Union
+
+
+def get_params_for_weight_decay_optimization(
+    module: Any, neox_args: Any
+) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]:
+    """
+    Divide params into with-weight-decay and without-weight-decay groups.
     Layernorms and biases will have no weight decay but the rest will.
     """
     weight_decay_params = {"params": [], "name": "weight_decay_params"}
@@ -35,58 +42,38 @@ def get_params_for_weight_decay_optimization(module, neox_args):
         "weight_decay": 0.0,
         "name": "no_weight_decay_params",
     }
-    for module_ in module.modules():
-        if neox_args.norm == "te_layernorm" or neox_args.norm == "te_rmsnorm":
+
+    def is_no_weight_decay_module(module_: Any) -> bool:
+        if neox_args.norm in ["te_layernorm", "te_rmsnorm"]:
             try:
-                from megatron.model.transformer_engine import TELayerNorm, TERMSNorm
+                te = importlib.import_module("megatron.model.transformer_engine")
+                return isinstance(module_, (te.TELayerNorm, te.TERMSNorm))
             except ImportError:
                 raise ImportError(
-                    """Unable to import transformer-engine. Please refer to
-                https://github.com/NVIDIA/TransformerEngine for installation instructions."""
-                )
-            if any(
-                [
-                    isinstance(module_, TELayerNorm),
-                    isinstance(module_, TERMSNorm),
-                ]
-            ):
-                no_weight_decay_params["params"].extend(
-                    [p for p in list(module_._parameters.values()) if p is not None]
+                    "Unable to import transformer-engine. Please refer to "
+                    "https://github.com/NVIDIA/TransformerEngine for installation instructions."
                 )
-        elif any(
-            [
-                isinstance(module_, LayerNorm),
-                isinstance(module_, RMSNorm),
-                isinstance(module_, ScaleNorm),
-            ]
-        ) or (
-            neox_args.weight_decay == 0.0
-        ):  # also include all parameters here if no weight decay is being done
+        return (
+            isinstance(module_, (LayerNorm, RMSNorm, ScaleNorm))
+            or neox_args.weight_decay == 0.0
+        )
+
+    for module_ in module.modules():
+        if is_no_weight_decay_module(module_):
             no_weight_decay_params["params"].extend(
-                [p for p in list(module_._parameters.values()) if p is not None]
+                [p for p in module_._parameters.values() if p is not None]
             )
         else:
-            weight_decay_params["params"].extend(
-                [
-                    p
-                    for n, p in list(module_._parameters.items())
-                    if p is not None
-                    and n != "bias"
-                    and not getattr(p, "_no_weight_decay", False)
-                ]
-            )
-            no_weight_decay_params["params"].extend(
-                [
-                    p
-                    for n, p in list(module_._parameters.items())
-                    if p is not None
-                    and (n == "bias" or getattr(p, "_no_weight_decay", False))
-                ]
-            )
+            for name, param in module_._parameters.items():
+                if param is None:
+                    continue
+                if name == "bias" or getattr(param, "_no_weight_decay", False):
+                    no_weight_decay_params["params"].append(param)
+                else:
+                    weight_decay_params["params"].append(param)
+
     if neox_args.weight_decay == 0.0:
-        # only return a single param group
-        # with onebitadam, we want to minimize the calls to compressed_allreduce. Every param group calls it once.
-        # to avoid this, only use a single param group when weight decay is off.
+        # Only return a single param group to minimize calls to compressed_allreduce with onebitadam
         return [no_weight_decay_params]
     return weight_decay_params, no_weight_decay_params