May 31, 2023
This month the Government Finance Officers Association recognized the City of Lakewood for its Popular Annual Financial Report and its Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year that ended in 2021.
The city received the association’s award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting and its Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.
Each award represents significant achievements by the city. It also demonstrates the city’s continued priority to maintain a strong fiscal standing, good stewardship of public funds and accountability of taxpayer money.
To be eligible for the recognition jurisdictions must submit their Popular Annual Financial Report and Comprehensive Financial Report for review by a panel of judges. For the outstanding achievement award judges evaluate the report on the following categories:
- Reader appeal
- Understandability
- Distribution methods
- Creativity
For the certificate of achievement for excellence recognition, a panel reviews the report to make sure it meets the high standards of the program. That includes demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate a financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.
This certificate is highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.
About GFOA
Founded in 1906, the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) represents public finance officials throughout the United States and Canada. There are more than 20,000 members representing the federal, state/provincial and local finance levels of government.
About the awards
The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting program was established in 1945 to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles. The goal is to prepare comprehensive financial reports that embody transparency and full disclosure to the public, and then recognize the agencies that achieve that goal.
The Popular Annual Financial Reporting Awards program was created in 1991 to encourage and assist state and local governments to use information from their annual comprehensive financial report to create high quality popular annual financial reports designed to be accessible and understandable to the general public without needing a background in public finance.