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District receives award for superior financial reporting, BAPS one of three districts to receive award

July 19, 2022

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The finance department at Broken Arrow Public Schools was recently honored with an award for its annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) awarded the district with the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, which is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting.

“The annual comprehensive financial report is a culmination of the district’s financial reporting and annual audit, which allows the community to assess the overall financial health of the district and understand where their tax dollars are spent,” Chief Financial Officer Natalie Eneff said.

State law mandates that school districts must undergo an annual audit and publish financial statements presented in conformity with accounting principles, while it is considered optional to complete the annual comprehensive financial report.

Broken Arrow Public Schools is one of only three districts in the state to successfully complete the financial report.

The primary difference between a typical audit and the comprehensive financial report is that the audit shows a single year of financial transactions, and the comprehensive financial report contains the results of the period with historical information. The financial report adheres to the most rigorous federal standards set by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

Established in 1945, GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program encourages state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles and prepare comprehensive financial reports, and those that do are recognized for successfully achieving that goal, according to the GFOA website.

For more information about the award, please visit the GFOA website at www.gfoa.org.