HARRISBURG RECEIVES TOP NATIONAL AWARD FOR FINANCIAL REPORTING AND ACCOUNTING – AGAIN
Harrisburg, PA – The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada has conferred the highest form of recognition for governmental financial reporting and accounting to the City of Harrisburg.
Known as the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, it is the 18th consecutive year for the City receiving the top national award.
In the notification that Mayor Stephen R. Reed received today, the Association stated, "The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting is the 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. The City’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report has been judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the award program, including demonstrating a constructive spirit of full disclosure to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the annual report." The award is for the City’s 2006 comprehensive report.
Reed said receiving the award for the 18th consecutive year is significant and noted:
- Of 2,566 municipalities in Pennsylvania, only 26 received the award
- Harrisburg has also attained the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, the top national award for budgeting, for the 16th consecutive year – and only three municipalities in Pennsylvania have received both top national fiscal awards
The Government Finance Officers Association is based in Chicago and Washington, DC and is comprised of over 16,000 financial experts in public finance matters.
Stephen J. Gauthier, director of the Technical Services Center for the Association, said, "We hope your example will encourage other government officials in their efforts to achieve and maintain an appropriate standard of excellence in financial reporting."
Mayor Reed noted that to achieve the annual award, the City must do more than meet the generally-accepted standards of financial reporting by adding more information and detail to its fiscal reports, including matching funding to specific goals and expected outcomes.
Reed said, "Financial reports can be stale and hard to follow, making them hard to discern. Our attainment of this award for so many years is because of our total commitment to making fiscal information citizen-reviewable, transparent and comprehensive."
The top two national awards received by Harrisburg over these years mark the first time in Harrisburg’s history that the City has received the recognitions.
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