County Boasts Award-Winning Auditor-Controller's Office

San Bernardino County has award-winning personnel, and that was made evident during a recent San Bernardino County Supervisors board meeting where three separate awards were presented to County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector Larry Walker. Walker was presented with a Certification of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting and an Award of Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers' Association. He was also presented with the State Controller's Award for Counties Financial Transactions Reporting, having achieved the highest quality in California governmental accounting and financial reporting. Walker said, "I am honored to receive these awards, and extremely proud of my staff for their continued hard work and dedication. This affirms my commitment to develop the county’s financial information in a manner that our citizens understand, while in a transparent, easily accessible and understandable format.” For the last 26 years, the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector's office has received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program, established in 1945 to encourage both state and local governments to prepare comprehensive annual financial reports in a manner exceeding minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) while also maintaining transparency and full disclosure of the report's content. Reports are reviewed by GFOA staff and its special review committee, comprised of individuals with public-sector financial reporting expertise. Additionally, the Popular Annual Financial Reporting Awards program was established in 1991 and has been awarded to the San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector's office for the last eight years. The award recognizes San Bernardino County's efforts to develop accounting transparency for average citizens by producing easily understandable reports, reviewed by selected members of the GFOA staff and by outside reviewers with governmental accounting and financial reporting experience.