Ryan Ostry
Bugle Reporter
@RyanOstry_BR18
rostry@buglenewspapers.com
For the fifth straight year, the Village of Romeoville has been recognized with the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada (GFOA) Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for its 2018 comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR).
The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.
The Romeoville annual report was judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to fully communicate its financial story.
The Government Finance Officers Association is a nonprofit professional association serving nearly 19,000 government finance professionals throughout North America.
The GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting is the only national awards program in governmental financial reporting.
“It just shows how much the community is dedicated to achieving the highest standards and there’s a national organization of financial officers that,” said Mayor John Noak. “It’s full disclosure getting into all of the details and it’s really going that extra mile to make sure that your community is putting out all of the information pertinent of the financial status of what is happening within the community.”
The GFOA established the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program (CAFR Program) in 1945 to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare comprehensive annual financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal.
The goal of the program is not to assess the financial health of participating governments, but to ensure that users of their financial statements have the information they need to do so themselves.
Reports submitted to the CAFR program are reviewed by selected members of the GFOA professional staff and the GFOA Special Review Committee (SRC), which comprises individuals with expertise in public sector financial reporting and includes financial statement preparers, independent auditors, academics and other finance professionals.
With Romeoville having multiple year success with this specific award, Noak said that it is a true testament to how well the staff and community has collaborated over the years.
“I really can’t say enough great things about the people we have in our finance department and the quality of staff that we have hired over the years,” Noak said. “Their commitment to achieving this high level of standard is unbelievable, and it also shows how strong of a situation our community is in financially.”