gfoa awards programs march 11, 2014, 10:30 omfoa spring conference sunriver, oregon
TRANSCRIPT
GFOA Awards ProgramsMarch 11, 2014, 10:30
OMFOA Spring ConferenceSunriver, Oregon
GFOA Programs• Budget – Distinguished Budget Presentation
Award
• CAFR – Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting
Panelists
Sharon Wojda – Budget Manager, City of Bend
Jeanine Faria – Accounting Manager, Deschutes County
Wayne Lowry – Finance Director, Deschutes County
Budget Awards Program
• 1,400 Participants• Established in 1984• Focus is on Budget Document Presentation• 27 Program Criteria• 14 Mandatory Criteria• E-Mail [email protected]• Forms and information gfoa.org
Participants in Oregon
• 9 Reviewers – • 43 Participating Local Governments– 23 Cities– 6 School Districts– 6 Counties– 8 Special Districts
Oregon Budget Reviewers
• Denise Carlson City of Hillsboro• Christina Day Port Community College• Pavel Gubanikhin City of Eugene• Michelle Hawkins Linn County• John Huberd City of Eugene• Leahnette Rivers*** Columbia City• Darlow Tuneberg City of Ashland• Sharon Wojda City of Bend• Lisa Young City of Sandy
Budget Awards ProgramCriteria
• As a Policy Document (5)• As an Operations Guide (6)• As a Financial Plan (10)• As a Communications Device (6)
Mandatory Criteria• Table of Contents• Budget Message• Overview of significant items and trends• Org Chart• Entity-wide long term financial policies (coherent)• Process for budget and amendments• Summary of major Revenue & Expenditures• Prior year actual, current budget & proposed• Projected changes in fund balances• Revenue sources, assumptions and trends• Capital Expenditures• Debt – debt margin, effect on current operations• Summary of positions three years• Activities, Services, Functions of organizational units
Application
• Official Requesting Review• Official to Notify of Results• Location Guide• Fee– Under $10M $185– $10M to $25M $280– $25M to $50M $330– $50M to $100M $425– $100M to $300M $550
Deschutes County
Program Budget
• Examples from 2009 Budget Review– Suggestions implemented in the 2010 document
• Examples from 2012 Budget Review– Suggestions implemented in the 2013 document
2009 Budget Review Comment
Communication Device
Comment: Consider a matrix specifically to show relationship between organization structure and accounting structure. Stating the funding sources of departments or displaying departments by fund will address this criterion.
Response: A new schedule, located on page 25, has been added to illustrate fund structure.
2012 Budget Review Comments
Operations GuideComment: Org Chart would be rated outstanding with an increase in font size.
Response: Org chart split into two parts and font size has been enlarged
2012 Budget Review Comments
Operations GuideComment: Total on summary schedules do not equate to other similar schedules
Response: Explanation of why and then redone so they agree.
2012 Budget Review Comments
Operations GuideComment: Consider adding an overall FTE summary with a change column to assist the reader.
Response: A summary by fund with a column showing the FTE change for the budget year has been added to the FTE & Salary Summary Section
2012 Budget Review Comments
Financial PlanComment: It would be more useful to the reader to put budget and prior years actual data in the same schedule
Response: Actuals for two prior years have been added to all summary schedules
2012 Budget Review Comments
Financial PlanComment: Consider a summary schedule for CIP that lists projects with funding requirements by year
Response: Summary schedule added
2012 Budget Review Comments
Financial PlanComment: Consider consolidating debt information in one place for readers
Response: A new debt management section has been added and to not only consolidate debt information but also expand debt details in the document
Review Comments
• Usually good ideas and suggestions for improvement
• Helpful in nature
• Sometimes just preference based on individual reviewer
Examples of Comments Received
Continue working on refining capital projects and their operating impacts. Consider a table that itemizes operating costs/impacts by staff, maintenance, debt, etc.
Examples of Comments Received
Include Captions
Examples of Comments ReceivedDepartment Fund Relationship – I specifically liked the tables on pages 53-54 as this gives the reader with an idea of what areas are comprised of the total and gives them the “big picture” of your organizational structure and financial makeup. However would suggest in the future, aligning them so the reader is looking at both pages at the same time.
Examples of Comments Received
Include specific dates on your budget calendar
When suggested changes aren’t incorporated…
• Address it in your response
• Explain why recommended changes weren’t made
• Don’t come across defensive
Biennial Budget• Legally adopted budget for the 2 year
biennium• GFOA budget presentation is for entire
biennium, not individual fiscal years
Internal Budget Preparation
• Even though budget adopted for biennium, develop it for individual fiscal years
• Present individual fiscal years to Budget Committee
Internal Budget Monitoring
• Internally monitor on annual basis but with more flexibility than if budget was adopted as annual amount
• Conduct a mid-biennial review, much shorter process than during biennial budget development year
Budget in Brief
Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting
The CAFR Program
CAFR Program
• Established in 1945– To encourage transparency and full disclosure in
annual reports– Nearly 4,000 certificates awarded for FY 2011 (the
most recent year available.• 109 in the State of Oregon. Of these, three were first
time participants– Lake County– Oregon City– Harney Education District
CAFR Program• 109 Awards for Oregon entities– Municipalities – 38 of a possible 242. 15.70%– Schools – 23– Counties – 14 of a possible 36. 38.89%– Special Districts – 13– Enterprise Funds - 11– Colleges – 6– Government Councils – 2– PERS – 1– State – 1
CAFR Program
• Reports need to be submitted within six months of fiscal year end– Can request an extension if necessary
• Review process is 4 to 6 months– This allows government to include suggestions for
improvement and to make corrections for the subsequent year’s report
CAFR Program
• GFOA’s website – www.gfoa.org – has all the required information for preparation and submission– How to submit a report– Application form– Checklist for • General-purpose government• School districts• Stand-alone business-type activites
CAFR Program
• Annual fee – Based on sum of Governmental Fund revenues and Proprietary Fund expenses
(double these amounts for non-GFOA members)
– <$1 million - $290– $ 1 million - $ 10 million $370– $10 million - $ 50 million $435– $50 million - $100 million $505– $100 million - $250 million $580– $250 million - $500 million $725
CAFR Program
• Checklist for general-purpose government entities is 81 pages.– Essentially a recap of reporting requirements for
governmental entities• Three sections of a CAFR – Introductory, Financial and
Statistical• Format of each of the statement• Note disclosure
– Items to disclose and adequacy of disclosure
CAFR Program
• Checklist Items for Note Disclosure by Sections• Thirty-four of the eighty-one pages
– Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (SSAP)– 3 pages
– Notes other than SSAP and Pension-Related– 23 pages
– Pension and Other Postemployment Benefit-Related Notes
– 8 pages
CAFR PROGRAM
• Deschutes County first year was FYE 6-30-2001– Forty-one comments included in GFOA’s Summary of
Grading Results on the Certificate of Achievement Program. • Rounding errors, reference “The notes to the financial
statements are an integral part of this statement.”, additional detail on the Changes in Long-Term Liabilities note, separate classification for inter-fund transfers, additional disclosure for investments and risk, etc.
• Report cover to read – Comprehensive Annual Financial Report
– The CAFR was a collaborative effort by the County and the County’s auditor
CAFR Program
• Comments on the CAFR FYE 6-30-2012– Twenty comments
• Presentation of an inter-fund loan between a governmental fund and an enterprise fund
• Reporting premiums and discounts from bond issuance separately from the par of the bonds
• Disclosure on the Fund Balance categories• Disclosure on OPEB• Various comments on the Statistical Section• Seven comments on reminders of new pronouncements
CAFR Program
• Other comments over the years– Clarification of the definition of “Special Revenue
Fund” resulted in combining some funds which had not previously been combined.• Need to review what now may be considered a Major
Fund
– Classified Statement of Net Assets (now Net Position)• Include sub-totals for noncurrent
CAFR Program
• Other comments (continued)– MD&A – include more discussion of the reasons
for changes in fund balances of major funds.– Use of term “Fair Value” instead of “Market Value”– Indicate the source of all non-accounting data
presented in the Statistical Section– Formatting of lines on the Statement of Activities• Indentation of line items
CAFR Program
• Summary– Different reviewer each year. Deschutes County’s
CAFR is in an annual state of improvement with a new perspective each year.
– Session at the GFOA annual conference each year to review areas for improvement on the CAFRs
– Cannot separately quantify the benefit of the Certificate, but there is likely one when it comes to bond ratings
Questions or Further Discussion