City receives GFOA Excellence in Financial Reporting award for 10th straight year

By Jeff Helfrich, Managing Editor

ROCHELLE — Back in late February, the City of Rochelle announced its receipt of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 10th year in a row.

The city congratulated its finance department team on Feb. 25, which includes Finance Director Chris Cardott, Jessica Rogers and Mark Boehm. The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a “significant accomplishment” by a government and its management.

The city’s report was judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, which includes demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.

“Chris and her team do a fantastic job,” City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said. “That award shows consistency in our audit process and shows that not only are our financials in good shape, but we follow basic standardized procedures and we make any type of changes that auditors recommend. It’s a real testament to our audit and budget practices and the work that our finance department does.”

The recent award the city received was for its 2023 financials. The city submits for the award six months after each fiscal year ends and the approval process takes several months. Cardott said work is currently underway on submitting its 2024 budget application for the award. 

The city submits an application for the award on an annual basis and Cardott said that after 10 years, receiving notification of receipt of the award still feels special because of the transparency it shows.

“It goes beyond what is needed for an annual audit,” Cardott said. “It has features in it like an introductory section. It has the organization structure, a list of officials and a transmittal letter. The transmittal letter is several pages and it is signed by myself and the city manager. It’s a profile of the city and has its mission, vision, goals, initiatives, and factors affecting financial condition. It condenses the numbers result in the audit into words so people can understand. At the end, there’s a statistical section and it has several different categories that now reflect 10 years of historical data. That’s important information so we can see where we’ve been and where we’re going to go in the future.”

Cardott said reaching the 10-year mark was a goal for the city to be able to use that 10-year data tool that will continue on if the city continues to receive the award. The application the city submits for it acts as a snapshot of its financial position in a year, how it’s grown and changed, and its commitment to financial transparency. 

The city’s receipt of the award over 10 years has spanned two different city managers, changes to the makeup of the city council and different department heads and staff members. Cardott and Fiegenschuh believe that shows consistency. 

“I think that’s a testament to the leadership shown by Chris, past city managers, mayors and council members and staff that we continue to receive this award even though we’ve had a lot of turnover in leadership roles in 10 years,” Fiegenschuh said. “It shows the consistency of our finance team and that we continue to follow best practices when it comes to budgeting and auditing.”