The Navajo County Community College District (dba Northland Pioneer College or NPC) has once again been awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). This marks the eighth year in a row the college has received the honor for its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), this time for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021.
The GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving approximately 21,000 government finance professionals. An impartial panel judged Northland Pioneer College’s (NPC) ACFR against the highest standards for governmental accounting, including demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate its financial story and motivate potential users and user groups to read the report.
The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting and represents a significant accomplishment by a governmental agency and its management. The ACFR provides more information than the college district’s annual audit report and covers not only the current year but also the previous 10 years.
When a Certificate of Achievement is awarded, an Award of Financial Reporting Achievement (AFRA) is also presented to the individual(s) or department designated as primarily responsible for having earned the certificate. NPC’s Chief Financial Officer and VP for Administrative Services, Maderia Ellison, and her team earned the distinction for putting together the comprehensive financial report. The GFOA award letter notes, “we hope that your example will encourage other government officials in their efforts to achieve and maintain an appropriate standard of excellence in financial reporting.”
“This reflects the culmination of a lot of hard work and the steadfast diligence of NPC’s financial services staff,” notes Maderia Ellison, NPC’s Chief Financial Officer. “It demonstrates to Navajo County taxpayers that our revenue and expenditures are handled correctly, with appropriate policies and oversight in place. The praise should rightfully go to every NPC employee, whose ingenuity, resourcefulness, and conservative spending have placed NPC among the top financially stable community college districts in Arizona. The district is committed to transparency and takes our fiduciary responsibilities very seriously. NPC is a great investment for the citizens of Navajo County.”