The City of Pocatello Finance Department is earning high praise for several of its reports from fiscal year 2014.
Recently, the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) awarded the department its Certificate of Achievement for the department’s work on the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). The certificate is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting. The CAFR is judged by an impartial panel and the report must demonstrate a spirit of full disclosure to clearly communicate the City’s financial story and encourage people to read the CAFR.
“We’re honored to be considered among the best of the best in the governmental accounting world,” said Joyce Stroschein, Chief Financial Officer for the City of Pocatello.
GFOA also bestowed the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting (PAFR) on the department. It recognizes outstanding work on the Popular Annual Financial Report. This report must display creativity, presentation, understandability, and reader appeal.
“Accounting is sometimes difficult for the layman to understand,” Stroschein explains. “What we’ve done with our Popular Annual Financial Report is taken the complicated CAFR numbers and created a document that clearly explains how the City is accounting for all its transactions.”
Fiscal year 2014 marks the 11th year in a row that the City has received the Certificate of Achievement for the CAFR and the 10th year in a row the City’s received the Award for Outstanding Achievement for the PAFR.
The GFOA is a nonprofit professional association that serves roughly 17,500 government finance professionals.