The Highest Standard

The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial
Reporting encourages governments to issue high quality comprehensive
annual financial reports to effectively communicate financial informa-
tion.

Since 1978, Marylands financial report has met or exceeded
all of the criteria. Maryland's Fiscal Year 1994 Comprehensive
Annual Financial Report was judged by an impartial panel to meet

...high standards... demonstrating a constructive spirit of full disclo-
sure, prompting GFO A to bestow the Certificate of Achievement
for Excellence in F inancial Reporting on the state for the l0th year
in a row.

To earn the GFOA award, government units musts

submit a published comprehensive annual financial report?
present financial data and narration beyond the require-
ments of generally accepted accounting principles

(GAAP)?

allow the financial records to be examined by an indepen-
dent auditor an accordance with generally accepted auditing
standards (GAAS)? and

incorporate the audit as an integral
part of the comprehensive annual

financial report.

Information must he presented
completely and clearly, with detailed and
thorough disclosure and standardized

terminology.

A committee of government

officials, CPAs, academicians and other

experts in governmental accounting and

financial reporting assigns two judges to

review eligible candidates.
The judges decision must be

unanimous,