City of Perry once again awarded excellence in financial reporting

PERRY, Ga. – The city of Perry Finance Department once again received the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting.

The city is a member of the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada, a group that promotes financial transparency and setting standards for how governments report on financing. According to Director of Finance Mitchell Worthington, anyone who receives this award goes above and beyond the minimum requirements. He added that it means showing transparency and full disclosure of all their finances.

Worthington explains financial reporting is releasing balance sheets and revenue and expense reports. He said it’s a requirement in public companies and governments in the state, it is also a way for anyone to know the financial state of the city. It gives people an idea of exactly the amount of money the city has as well as their assets, liabilities and where the money comes from and where the city’s money is going towards.

Worthington said the department has been receiving this award on and off since approximately fiscal year 1996, adding the association puts out a set of standards which is several pages long that says the minimum standards they have to meet to receive the award.

“We have committed as an organization to meeting those standards every year,” said Worthington.

He admits it is a long process to meet those standards and to make sure they do everything correctly; they bring in an auditor at the end of every fiscal year to take a look over the numbers. He said they provide them with the raw data and they build the financial statements.

Worthington also shares that from those statements they create a book called the “Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.” He said the report is about 150 pages long, which is all about the city’s finance and beyond.

“It goes well beyond just finances. It’s kind of what the point of the book is to give someone a full picture of how the city is doing financially, not just numbers. It has narratives that kind of tries to explain the numbers a little more like if revenue is going up, why are they going up. If expenses are going up, why are they going up,” said Worthington.

He also says the book has a statistical section in that back that shows 10 years of comparative data, like where the city’s fund balance ended each year, which is the amount of cash they have on hand. It also shows the number of employees they have had each year as well as the city’s assets.

“The whole point in the book is anyone can know exactly what the financial story of the city of Perry,” said Worthington

He said that especially for a city the size of Perry, they put a lot of work into their financial reporting and are very proud to have the award every year.

“It’s definitely not me as the finance director, I guess I would say I play quarterback, but we have a great team in the finance department who is really committed to the financial standards and spending the money of the city wisely and the citizen’s,” said Worthington

He added that if anyone is interested in seeing financial report behind the award, it is available at https://perry-ga.gov/uploads/files/53/52/535216f1042bb3072a91e53f72af22d5.pdf.

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