The City of North Battleford's Finance Department's Annual Report has been awarded the Canadian Award for Financial Reporting. (Submitted photo/City of North Battleford)

By Josh Ryan

Canadian Award

City awarded for financial reporting

Feb 25, 2021 | 3:45 PM

North Battleford’s efforts in providing financial transparency have received special recognition.

The City has been awarded the Canadian Award for Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA), for the city’s 2019 annual report. GFOA established the Canadian Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting (CAnFR) back in 1986 to encourage local governments to go beyond minimum requirements of accounting principles. Approximately 84 communities throughout all of Canada receive this award annually.

City officials, in a release Thursday, called it a significant achievement for the city and all staff involved to produce the report. Director of finance Steve Brown said they’re proud to provide transparent financial reporting to the residents of North Battleford that exceeds national standards.

“I would like to congratulate all the staff of the finance department, winning this award was a team effort,” Brown said. “This award is a reflection of the daily hard work and excellent service our staff provide to the public.”

City manager Randy Patrick said he was pleased that the city had received this award, as larger communities tend to be the recipients.

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“I would like to acknowledge the hard work by the finance staff led by Steve Brown to produce this document. I would also like to thank council for their support in moving us forward with this report”.

Previous winners of this award include the cities of Toronto, Winnipeg and Saskatoon. Patrick said the staff has been going after the award, as transparency is something they’ve focused on in recent years, and that he hopes residents read the report themselves.

“It helps people who want to understand what their city is doing and how their tax dollars are being used.”

The report can be reviewed here.

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josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports