Salem Receives National Award For Finance Report

From The City of Salem: The City of Salem has once again been awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) for the city’s comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) for the year ending June 30, 2016.

The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of government accounting and financial reporting. Its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management. This marks the tenth year that the City has received the distinction.

“This award is a reflection of the value we have placed on transparency, professionalism, and financial responsibility in government operations,” said Mayor Kim Driscoll. “It is also a credit to the hard work of our Finance Department, led by Finance Director Sarah Stanton.”

In awarding this recognition, GFOA stated that Salem’s CAFR “has been judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive ‘spirit of full disclosure’ to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the CAFR.”

The GFOA established the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program in 1945 to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles in preparing comprehensive annual financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure. The award recognizes individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal. The goal of the program is to ensure that users of their financial statements have the information they need in order to assess the financial health of participating governments. Reports submitted to the CAFR program are reviewed by selected members of the GFOA professional staff and the GFOA Special Review Committee, which comprises individuals with expertise in public sector financial reporting and includes financial statement preparers, independent auditors, academics, and other finance professionals.

Salem’s CAFR is available online at http://www.salem.com/auditor-director-finance/pages/financial-statements.

Image Courtesy of The City of Salem