GFOA Awards Programs March 11, 2014, 10:30 OMFOA Spring Conference Sunriver, Oregon

GFOA Programs Budget – Distinguished Budget Presentation Award CAFR – Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting

Panelists Sharon Wojda – Budget Manager, City of Bend Jeanine Faria – Accounting Manager, Deschutes County Wayne Lowry – Finance Director, Deschutes County

Budget Awards Program 1,400 Participants Established in 1984 Focus is on Budget Document Presentation 27 Program Criteria 14 Mandatory Criteria Forms and information gfoa.org

Participants in Oregon 9 Reviewers – 43 Participating Local Governments – 23 Cities – 6 School Districts – 6 Counties – 8 Special Districts

Oregon Budget Reviewers Denise CarlsonCity of Hillsboro Christina Day Port Community College Pavel GubanikhinCity of Eugene Michelle Hawkins Linn County John Huberd City of Eugene Leahnette Rivers*** Columbia City Darlow Tuneberg City of Ashland Sharon Wojda City of Bend Lisa Young City of Sandy

Budget Awards Program Criteria As a Policy Document (5) As an Operations Guide (6) As a Financial Plan (10) As a Communications Device (6)

Mandatory Criteria Table of Contents Budget Message Overview of significant items and trends Org Chart Entity-wide long term financial policies (coherent) Process for budget and amendments Summary of major Revenue & Expenditures Prior year actual, current budget & proposed Projected changes in fund balances Revenue sources, assumptions and trends Capital Expenditures Debt – debt margin, effect on current operations Summary of positions three years Activities, Services, Functions of organizational units

Application Official Requesting Review Official to Notify of Results Location Guide Fee – Under $10M$185 – $10M to $25M$280 – $25M to $50M$330 – $50M to $100M$425 – $100M to $300M$550

Deschutes County Program Budget Examples from 2009 Budget Review – Suggestions implemented in the 2010 document Examples from 2012 Budget Review – Suggestions implemented in the 2013 document

2009 Budget Review Comment Communication Device Comment: Consider a matrix specifically to show relationship between organization structure and accounting structure. Stating the funding sources of departments or displaying departments by fund will address this criterion. Response: A new schedule, located on page 25, has been added to illustrate fund structure.

2012 Budget Review Comments Operations Guide Comment: Org Chart would be rated outstanding with an increase in font size. Response: Org chart split into two parts and font size has been enlarged

2012 Budget Review Comments Operations Guide Comment: Total on summary schedules do not equate to other similar schedules Response: Explanation of why and then redone so they agree.

2012 Budget Review Comments Operations Guide Comment: Consider adding an overall FTE summary with a change column to assist the reader. Response: A summary by fund with a column showing the FTE change for the budget year has been added to the FTE & Salary Summary Section

2012 Budget Review Comments Financial Plan Comment: It would be more useful to the reader to put budget and prior years actual data in the same schedule Response: Actuals for two prior years have been added to all summary schedules

2012 Budget Review Comments Financial Plan Comment: Consider a summary schedule for CIP that lists projects with funding requirements by year Response: Summary schedule added

2012 Budget Review Comments Financial Plan Comment: Consider consolidating debt information in one place for readers Response: A new debt management section has been added and to not only consolidate debt information but also expand debt details in the document

Review Comments Usually good ideas and suggestions for improvement Helpful in nature Sometimes just preference based on individual reviewer

Examples of Comments Received Continue working on refining capital projects and their operating impacts. Consider a table that itemizes operating costs/impacts by staff, maintenance, debt, etc.

Examples of Comments Received Include Captions

Examples of Comments Received Department Fund Relationship – I specifically liked the tables on pages as this gives the reader with an idea of what areas are comprised of the total and gives them the “big picture” of your organizational structure and financial makeup. However would suggest in the future, aligning them so the reader is looking at both pages at the same time.

Examples of Comments Received Include specific dates on your budget calendar

When suggested changes aren’t incorporated… Address it in your response Explain why recommended changes weren’t made Don’t come across defensive

Biennial Budget Legally adopted budget for the 2 year biennium GFOA budget presentation is for entire biennium, not individual fiscal years

Internal Budget Preparation Even though budget adopted for biennium, develop it for individual fiscal years Present individual fiscal years to Budget Committee

Internal Budget Monitoring Internally monitor on annual basis but with more flexibility than if budget was adopted as annual amount Conduct a mid-biennial review, much shorter process than during biennial budget development year

Budget in Brief

Questions? Sharon Wojda City of Bend Budget & Support Services Manager (541)

Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting The CAFR Program

CAFR Program Established in 1945 – To encourage transparency and full disclosure in annual reports – Nearly 4,000 certificates awarded for FY 2011 (the most recent year available. 109 in the State of Oregon. Of these, three were first time participants – Lake County – Oregon City – Harney Education District

CAFR Program 109 Awards for Oregon entities – Municipalities – 38 of a possible % – Schools – 23 – Counties – 14 of a possible % – Special Districts – 13 – Enterprise Funds - 11 – Colleges – 6 – Government Councils – 2 – PERS – 1 – State – 1

CAFR Program Reports need to be submitted within six months of fiscal year end – Can request an extension if necessary Review process is 4 to 6 months – This allows government to include suggestions for improvement and to make corrections for the subsequent year’s report

CAFR Program GFOA’s website – – has all the required information for preparation and submissionwww.gfoa.org – How to submit a report – Application form – Checklist for General-purpose government School districts Stand-alone business-type activites

CAFR Program Annual fee – Based on sum of Governmental Fund revenues and Proprietary Fund expenses (double these amounts for non-GFOA members) – <$1 million - $290 – $ 1 million - $ 10 million $370 – $10 million - $ 50 million $435 – $50 million - $100 million $505 – $100 million - $250 million $580 – $250 million - $500 million $725

CAFR Program Checklist for general-purpose government entities is 81 pages. – Essentially a recap of reporting requirements for governmental entities Three sections of a CAFR – Introductory, Financial and Statistical Format of each of the statement Note disclosure – Items to disclose and adequacy of disclosure

CAFR Program Checklist Items for Note Disclosure by Sections Thirty-four of the eighty-one pages – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (SSAP) – 3 pages – Notes other than SSAP and Pension-Related – 23 pages – Pension and Other Postemployment Benefit- Related Notes – 8 pages

CAFR PROGRAM Deschutes County first year was FYE – Forty-one comments included in GFOA’s Summary of Grading Results on the Certificate of Achievement Program. Rounding errors, reference “The notes to the financial statements are an integral part of this statement.”, additional detail on the Changes in Long-Term Liabilities note, separate classification for inter-fund transfers, additional disclosure for investments and risk, etc. Report cover to read – Comprehensive Annual Financial Report – The CAFR was a collaborative effort by the County and the County’s auditor

CAFR Program Comments on the CAFR FYE – Twenty comments Presentation of an inter-fund loan between a governmental fund and an enterprise fund Reporting premiums and discounts from bond issuance separately from the par of the bonds Disclosure on the Fund Balance categories Disclosure on OPEB Various comments on the Statistical Section Seven comments on reminders of new pronouncements

CAFR Program Other comments over the years – Clarification of the definition of “Special Revenue Fund” resulted in combining some funds which had not previously been combined. Need to review what now may be considered a Major Fund – Classified Statement of Net Assets (now Net Position) Include sub-totals for noncurrent

CAFR Program Other comments (continued) – MD&A – include more discussion of the reasons for changes in fund balances of major funds. – Use of term “Fair Value” instead of “Market Value” – Indicate the source of all non-accounting data presented in the Statistical Section – Formatting of lines on the Statement of Activities Indentation of line items

CAFR Program Summary – Different reviewer each year. Deschutes County’s CAFR is in an annual state of improvement with a new perspective each year. – Session at the GFOA annual conference each year to review areas for improvement on the CAFRs – Cannot separately quantify the benefit of the Certificate, but there is likely one when it comes to bond ratings

Questions or Further Discussion