The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) announced that the Canadian Award for Financial Reporting has been awarded to City of Vernon for its annual financial report. Additionally, the Canadian Award for Financial Reporting Achievement has been awarded to Kevin Bertles, Director of Financial Services as the individual designated as primarily responsible for preparing the report. This is the sixth year in a row that the City of Vernon has received this recognition.
The Canadian Award for Financial Reporting program was established to encourage municipal governments throughout Canada to publish high quality financial reports and to provide peer recognition and technical guidance for officials preparing these reports. Its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management.
“One of the key responsibilities of our Council is ensuring fiscal responsibility and transparency, which are essential to delivering efficient, effective and proactive services to our taxpayers,” said Mayor Akbal Mund. “We on Council, as well as the management and staff of the City of Vernon, are proud of Mr. Bertles and his staff for achieving this standard of excellence six years in a row. It is a demonstration to Vernon citizens of the high standards we on Council have set and will continue to set for this organization and administration.”
The City of Vernon annual financial report was judged by impartial Canadian Review Committee members to meet the high standards of the program, including demonstrating a constructive "spirit of full disclosure" designed to clearly communicate the municipality's financial story and to motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.
“It is our goal to consistently deliver fiscally transparent documents and convey financial information that supports the solid framework upon which our budget is based,” said Bertles. “We use the feedback from the review program and other professional sources to prepare the next annual report, and we strive every year to improve upon our reports and our practices. We are extremely pleased with the collaborative effort that our team has put into the continual development of our annual report since we have been a participant in this program and since our first award six years ago.”
The GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving over 18,000 government finance professionals in the United States and Canada with offices in Chicago, Illinois, and Washington, D.C.