Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 13:33:30 +0000
From: Debra Henzey
Subject: Chatham County Again Earns Nationwide Budget and Audit Awards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Renee Paschal, 919-542-8200
January 21, 2015
Chatham County Again Earns Nationwide Budget and Audit Awards
PITTSBORO – Chatham County continues its success in gaining recognition from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), a nationwide organization, for meeting top standards for both budget presentation and comprehensive audit reports.
“We are very fortunate to have finance and budget teams that second to none and recognized nationally for meeting the highest standards,” said County Manager Charlie Horne. “Assistant County Manager Renee Paschal leads our budget process, along with Lisa West and Hope Tally. Finance Director Vicki McConnell oversees the audit report.”
The Chatham County Manager’s Office recently received the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, which is the third time that the county has received this award in the past five years. The award means that the county’s budget presentation for FY 2014-15 met “the highest principles of governmental budgeting.”
The GFOA has specific guidelines that require the budget presentation to meet standards in four areas: policy document, financial plan, operational guide and communications tool. Each of these four areas have 14 mandatory criteria that must be met.
Every year since 1989, the Chatham County Finance Office has received the GFOA’s Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting and received it again for its FY 2013-14 audit report. This award recognizes local governments that produce audit reports reflecting the “spirit of transparency and full disclosure.”
The financial reporting guidelines also require the audit report to “clearly communicate the organization’s financial story and motivate potential users to read it.”
Both awards require extensive review by experts who evaluate the documents using extensive criteria.
In keeping with the NC Public Records Law, e-mails, including attachments, may be released to others upon request for inspection and copying.
Debra Henzey
Chatham County Director of Community Relations
919-542-8258
Cell 919-548-4662