COVINGTON, Ga. – For a fourth consecutive year, the City of Covington has received the Government Finance Officers Association Award for Outstanding Achievement for its accounting and finance practices.

The City is required to annually submit financial statements to the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounting, but the creation of a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report is an extra report that provides in-depth information about the city.

After the CAFR is compiled and submitted, it is judged by an impartial committee to ensure it meets the standards required for the award. The certificate of achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting.

Consisting of more than 100 pages, the CAFR provides extensive financial data, and statistical information as well as geographic data, governmental structure and historical information. The award must be applied for annually by submitting a current CAFR for review. 

In addition to receiving the Certificate of Excellence for the CAFR, the City also received recognition for their Popular Annual Financial Report for the second consecutive year. This report is a condensed, easy to understand version of the CAFR and is comprised of approximately 12 pages.

PAFR entries are judged on a variety of categories, including reader appeal, understandability, distribution methods, creativity and other elements

“This is the fourth time we have received this award for our CAFR and second time for our PAFR. It shows the caliber of finance department we have here at the City of Covington,” City Manager Leigh Anne Knight said. “The mayor, city council and I are proud and appreciative of the efforts put forth by our finance department into continuing this project.”

The most recent City of Covington CAFR and PAFR documents can be viewed at cityofcovington.org.