Town of Coaldale receives National Award for 2021 Annual Report

This year marks the fourth year in a row that the Town has produced an awardwinning report.

The Town of Coaldale has once again been awarded the Canadian Award for Financial Reporting – this time for its 2021 Annual Report.

Each year, the Town produces an annual financial report, the purpose of which is twofold:

1. to provide clear and transparent information to Town residents, businesses, and other stakeholders regarding the Town’s financial position and performance; and

2. to provide insight into some of the Town’s most recent innovations and accomplishments, as well as into some of its future challenges.

To be awarded a Canadian Award for Financial Reporting, the Town must produce an easily readable and efficiently organized report that meets certain criteria set by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA). In accordance with these criteria, the report must go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles and demonstrate an effort to clearly communicate the Town’s financial picture as well as educate residents about the Town’s obligations when it comes to financial reporting. Reports submitted to the GFOA for consideration are then reviewed by selected GFOA staff and a review committee comprised of individuals with expertise in Canadian public-sector financial reporting. These individuals include financial statement preparers, independent auditors, academics, and other finance professionals.

This year marks the fourth year in a row that the Town has produced an award-winning report, which is no small feat. “We’re incredibly proud to have received this award for a fourth consecutive year,” said Kyle Beauchamp, Chief Financial Officer & Deputy CAO for the Town of Coaldale. “To receive it once is an accomplishment, but to receive it four years in a row shows how consistent the Town has been in its commitment to the principles of financial transparency and high-quality, straightforward financial reporting.”

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“Once again, our finance team has demonstrated that Coaldale is a municipality where financial transparency is taken seriously,” said Town of Coaldale Mayor Jack Van Rijn. “On behalf of Coaldale Town Council, I’d like to thank our finance department for their professionalism and for making sure that Coaldale residents continue to have access to straightforward information about the Town’s financial performance. In Council’s 2021-2025 Strategic Plan, we identify service excellence as a key priority. But to deliver on this priority, we need to follow robust financial planning practices. Publishing award winning annual reports is one way to ensure those practices are being followed, because these reports always provide a clear picture – both to Council and our constituents - of where the Town is at financially, and where it needs to go moving forward.”

To read the Town’s 2021 Annual Report, please visit: https://www.coaldale.ca/ annual-report

For media inquiries, please contact: Kyle Beauchamp

Chief Financial Officer & Deputy CAO Town of Coaldale kyle.beauchamp@coaldale.ca 403-345-1301