PAFR Award Program Eligibility

The program is open to submissions from any type of government (general-purpose or special-purpose) at either the state or local level that makes available to the general public a popular annual financial report in either an electronic (web site, CD) or hardcopy format (separate document, newspaper insert, subsection of some larger document). Submissions must be received with 6 months of the end of the fiscal year.

U.S. Governments: Governments that wish to participate in the PAFR program must 1) submit the annual comprehensive financial report to the GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for  the current fiscal year and 2) ultimately receive the GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the current fiscal year. In addition:

  1. The PAFR must clearly advise readers of the availability of the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
  2. If the PAFR contains information from only selected funds, or if the PAFR does not include all component units, that fact must be disclosed.
  3. The financial information contained in the PAFR must be derived from the actual GAAP data in the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.
  4. Some form of appropriate narrative or graphic analysis must be provided to explain items of potentially significant interest or concern.

Note: The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting may not be reproduced in the PAFR.

Canadian Governments: Governments that wish to participate in the PAFR program must 1) submit the annual financial report to GFOA’s Canadian Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting (CAnFR) for the current fiscal year and 2) ultimately receive the GFOA’s CAnFR for the current fiscal year. In addition:

  1. The PAFR must clearly advise readers of the availability of the annual financial report.
  2. If the PAFR contains information from only selected funds, or if the PAFR does not include all component units, that fact must be disclosed.
  3. The financial information contained in the PAFR must be derived from the actual GAAP data in the annual financial report.
  4. Some form of appropriate narrative or graphic analysis must be provided to explain items of potentially significant interest or concern.

Note: The Canadian Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting may not be reproduced in the PAFR.