Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting

The City of Bedford received the 23rd Consecutive Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting at the City Council Meeting on Tuesday, February 25, 2020.

The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting. Its attainment represents a significant accomplishment and a standard of excellence in financial reporting. In order to be awarded a Certificate of Achievement, a government must publish an easily readable and efficiently organized Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). This report must satisfy both generally accepted accounting principles and applicable legal requirements.

The Award of Financial Reporting Achievement (AFRA) has also been presented to the Finance Department as the primary Department responsible for earning the Certificate.

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) established the CAFR Program in 1945 to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of the generally accepted accounting principles to prepare comprehensive
annual financial reports that exemplify the spirit of transparency and full disclosure of the entity’s financial position.

Annual financial reports submitted to the CAFR program are reviewed by selected members of the GFOA professional staff and the GFOA Special Review Committee (SRC), which is comprised of individuals with expertise in public sector financial reporting. Members of the SRC review the reports based on specific criteria outlined in the program and provide the scoring of each award applicant.

To this day, the City of Bedford has met the specified criteria and received the CAFR recognition for the last 23 years in a row.