PF Finance Department, city, awarded for excellence
Jason Faulkner, finance director and treasurer for the city of Post Falls.
Courtesy photo
POST FALLS — The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA,) has awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the city of Post Falls and the city’s Finance Department.
This is the 23rd consecutive year that Post Falls has received the honor.
No other individual Kootenai County city has, though Kootenai County also received recognition for reporting excellence, said Jason Faulkner, finance director and treasurer for the City of Post Falls.
The award is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting, according to a city press release issued Tuesday.
Post Falls also received GFOA’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting. The PAFR is a “condensed, user-friendly guide to the city’s financial statements. It is presented for the general public and those interested who don’t have a background in public finance.
Visit https://bit.ly/3Lmr4p7 to access PDF files of the city’s budget documents, the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and the Popular Annual Financial Report to Citizens.
The budget analysis and audit process is “intensive to generate,” Faulkner said, in an email Wednesday.
An independent auditor examines the city’s financial statements pertaining to: government activities, business-type activities, each major fund, financial activities of the Post Falls Urban Renewal District, remaining fund information and all related financial notes, Faulkner said.
The auditor assesses the “risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error,” Faulkner said.
“It includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used,” Faulkner said. “And the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by management.”
Additionally the overall presentation of the documents is evaluated.
Faulkner and his staff undertake the large task of completing the statements for submission and checking off a 49-page list of items required by the GFOA.
Current bond holders review and rely on the audited statements, Faulkner said. The documents are also evaluated when the city issues additional debt. For example, when the city received a loan from the Department of Environmental Quality for the wastewater treatment plant upgrade.
The award was created in 1945, to encourage state and local governments to “go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles,” according to the GFOA website.