NEWS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2019

Financial Report Nets Auditor's Office National Recognition

PORT ORCHARD - The Kitsap County Auditor’s Office was honored this month for its financial reporting.

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) gave Kitsap County the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting (CAFR) for the county’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for 2017. It’s the highest form of recognition in financial statement preparation by the GFOA.

The report is prepared by staff members within the Financial Services Division of the Auditor’s Office. The 2018 CAFR being prepared now is due to be submitted to the State Auditor by May 30, 2019. It will then be reviewed by the GFOA for consideration.

“We’re proud that we can provide taxpayers with a document that accurately reflects how their money is prioritized. The CAFR is one of many ways the county demonstrates transparency and accountability for how county income and spending is carried out,” said Paul Andrews, Kitsap County Auditor.

The CAFR is a financial report for the county and complies with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles established by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. While a budget shows the plans for spending, the CAFR shows how the budget played out and goes into greater detail.

The award was established to encourage governments to go beyond minimum reporting rules to create documents that model transparency and full disclosure. Reports are reviewed by a committee made up of public sector financial statement preparers, auditors, academics and other financial professionals. The goal is to make sure people reading the reports have what they need to assess the health of the organization.

“Kitsap taxpayers have the right to have accurate and complete information available to them to thoughtfully examine county finances. It’s our commitment to continue working to provide that information,” Andrews said.

In addition to the CAFR, the county provides the Popular Annual Financial Report, a simplified version of the CAFR. Its purpose is to create a streamlined, lightweight document that highlights important reporting from the larger report. Kitsap County is one of two counties in the state that provides this version of reporting.

Both reports are available at kcowa.us/financial.