Town wins financial report award for fifth year in a row

By Nikki Jamieson
Sunny South News

Coaldale has once again won an internationally-recognized award for their financial reporting.

During Coaldale town’s council’s regular April 2 meeting, chief financial officer Kyle Beauchamp announced the Town is, once again, a recipient of a top financial award for their 2022 Annual Financial Report.

The award in question is the Canadian Award for Financial Reporting, awarded by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada.

“This is the fifth year in a row we’ve received the award, dating back to 2018, and it’s one we’re quite proud to receive every year,” said Beauchamp. 

The award was created to encourage municipal governments in Canada to publish high-quality financial reports, provide peer recognition and provide technical guidance for preparing financial reports.

Annual reports are judged by impartial Canadian Review Committee members, who ensure that the reports demonstrate a spirit of full disclosure, communicate a municipality’s financial story and to motivates people to read the report. 

In order to obtain the award, a government unit must publish an easy-to-read and understand annual financial report and go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to show they are working to clearly articulate their financial picture, work on improving the public’s understanding of financial reporting by municipal governments, and are address their rate-payer’s needs.

The report is available on the town’s website at https://www.coaldale.ca/annual-report.

Beauchamp said for those who are interested, there is a “good debrief there”, which breaks down the Town’s financial statements into “readable data for those non-accountants”.

Mayor Jack Van Rijn congratulated town staff for a well-done job.

Council unanimously passed a motion to receive the report for information.

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