Celebrating 40 years of GFOA recognition for excellence in government finance reporting the longest consecutive run in Pennsylvania are some of the current and former Mt. Lebanon employees who made it happen: Front: Finance Director Andrew McCreery (second from right) flanked by (from left) former finance directors Willy McKain, Marcia Taylor and David Egler. Second row: Fran Seaton, Fran George, Sandy Marek, Susan Morgans and Joanne Singley. Third row: Karen Hoffman, Carla VanBuskirk, former Municipal Manager Wilmer Baldwin and Mary Abbott.

Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) awarded Mt. Lebanon a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, for its 2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). That’s pretty big news. The bigger news, however, is that this makes the 40th year that the Mt. Lebanon Finance Department has received the award.

That puts Mt. Lebanon in the top 2 percent of the 4,181 financial entities counties, municipalities, school districts, public employee pension systems, enterprise funds that the GFOA tracks.

Mt. Lebanon invited finance officers, managers, commissioners and other administrators past and present for a celebration of going on four decades of excellence, in recognition of all the hard work that it takes to put the “Comprehensive” in the Annual Financial Report.

“Our community strives for excellence in all aspects, and financial reporting is no different,” says Finance Director Andrew McCreery. “Good financial reporting allows staff to effectively communicate with elected officials, residents and outside parties.”

Mt. Lebanon also issues a Popular Annual Financial Report, included in each May issue of Mt. Lebanon Magazine, that boils the 180-plus page CAFR down to 12 or 16 readable pages for the majority of us who would need a search party to rescue us from the financial minutiae.

Congratulations to all who had the fortitude to shoulder the daunting task of accounting for tens of millions of dollars down to the last penny.

Caption: Celebrating 40 years of GFOA recognition for excellence in government finance reporting the longest consecutive run in Pennsylvania are some of the current and former Mt. Lebanon employees who made it happen: Front: Finance Director Andrew McCreery (second from right) flanked by (from left) former finance directors Willy McKain, Marcia Taylor and David Egler. Second row: Fran Seaton, Fran George, Sandy Marek, Susan Morgans and Joanne Singley. Third row: Karen Hoffman, Carla VanBuskirk, former Municipal Manager Wilmer Baldwin and Mary Abbott.