Awards for Excellence in Government FinanceThe GFOA's Awards for Excellence in Government Finance recognize contributions to the practice of government finance that exemplify outstanding financial management. The awards stress practical, documented work that offers leadership to the profession and promotes improved public finance. Entries may be submitted for consideration in any of the following  nine categories:
- Accounting, auditing, and financial reporting
- Budgeting and financial planning
- Capital finance and debt administration
- Economic development and capital planning
- E-Government and technology
- Management and service delivery
- Pensions and benefits
- Treasury and investment management
Eight criteria are examined when considering an application for the award: local significance and value, technical significance, transferability, documentation, the cost/benefit analysis, efficiency, originality, and durability. Membership in the GFOA is not required to apply for an award; however, nonmembers and students must be sponsored by an active GFOA member.
Please read the FAQs for complete information about the Awards for Excellence program. If you have additional questions, send an e-mail to Awards for Excellence. Click here for an application for the 2011 Awards for Excellence in Government Finance program.
See previous winners. (Coming soon)
2011 Awards for Excellence Winners (News Release) Public Works Commission of the City of Fayetteville, North CarolinaElectricity at a Discount: Using Tax-Exempt Debt to Prepay for Energy in Fayetteville, North Carolina Category: Capital Financing and Debt Administration Taking advantage of recent regulatory changes, the Fayetteville, North Carolina, Public Works Commission was able to save more than 10 percent on electricity costs for 2 years by using tax-exempt debt proceeds to prepay for capacity and energy. To protect the government in the event of default by the power company, Fayetteville obtained an irrevocable letter of credit. Previously, the inability to avoid the risk of default had limited the number of prepaid electric transactions to only three municipalities. This arrangement represents the first transaction of its kind between an investor-owned utility and a municipal utility. This agreement saved Fayetteville’s citizens $16.5 million over 24 months. Contact: Rhonda Haskins, Director of Financial Planning and Capital Projects, 955 Old Wilmington Road, Fayetteville, NC 28301 (910-223-4102,
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) Office of the Treasurer, Arlington County, VirginiaOne System for All Taxes: Automated Tax Management in Arlington County Category: e-Government and Technology Arlington County, Virginia, has torn down the silos and put in place a single, integrated system to administer all county taxes. The Office of the Treasurer’s assessment and collection enterprise (ACE) system approaches tax collection in a new way, based on the core idea of the tax-paying entity, rather than separate systems and processes for each tax – the norm for local government. ACE replaced a dozen 25-year old mainframe, Access, and Excel-based systems with a single, integrated, off-the-shelf software program and a new cashiering system. ACE also connects with more than 50 other county systems, external customers, and service providers. The system has improved service to county residents and provided for more cost-effective, accurate, and efficient delivery of services. Contact: Frank O’Leary, Treasurer, Office of the Treasurer, 2100 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 201, Arlington, VA 22201 (703-228-3255,
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) The Community Development Commission of the County of Los AngelesFrom Paper to the Web: Streamlining Grants Management in Los Angeles Category: e-Government and Technology
Developed in response to increasing administrative costs and staff reductions, the Los Angeles Community Development Commission’s paperless grants management system allows unprecedented paperless efficiency in all aspects of managing the CDC’s community development block grants, federal stimulus grants, and local grants. The comprehensive, integrated Web-based system provides the CDC with real-time access to financial information on projects that use CDBG funds. It is also linked to the CDC’s financial system, which allows internal and external users to submit payment requests electronically and track project expenditures in real time. Not just another database, the GMS automatically tracks the work in different stages of grant management and notifies users of impending deadlines.
Contact: Yui Cheng, Director of Financial Management Division, 2 Coral Circle, Monterey Park, CA 91755 (323-890-7271,
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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Office of the Budget
Realizing the Benefits of ERP through Process Improvement: Pennsylvania's Finance Transformation Initiative
Category: e-Government and Technology
Pennsylvania’s Finance Transformation initiative made it the first state in the nation to implement a paperless procure-to-pay system, a massive undertaking that eliminated about 600,000 paper invoices annually. Pennsylvania had implemented an advanced ERP system in 2003, but five years later, it was still using the decentralized, paper-oriented systems for payment processing and revenue collection that were in place before the ERP system was implemented. The Finance Transformation initiative allowed the commonwealth to take greater advantage of the existing system and to use new functions that had been made available for the system, allowing state government to operate faster, better, and cheaper.
Contact: Anna Maria Kiehl, Chief Accounting Officer, 555 Walnut St., 9th floor, Forum Place, Harrisburg, PA 17101 (717-787-6496,
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City of Los Angeles, Office of the City Treasurer, and City of Atlanta, Department of Finance
Coast to Coast Cooperation for Business Continuity Planning in Treasury Management
Category: Management and Service Delivery
Being able to pay bills and provide payroll to employees in emergencies is a concern for all governments. In this project, two cities on opposite sides of the continent – Los Angeles and Atlanta – joined together to create an innovative plan for assuring that their financial operations can continue to function during emergencies. The cities developed a framework for analyzing needs throughout the organization, anticipating potential threats, and providing continuous and reliable financial support to first responders. The task-oriented documentation process displays essential information on a single page so anyone can instantly understand which tasks need to be performed immediately and which can be delayed.
Contacts: Crista Binder, Assistant Treasurer – City of Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles, Office of the City Treasurer, 200 N. Spring St. Room 201, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213-978-1709,
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); and Stefan Jaskulak, Deputy Chief Financial Officer – City of Atlanta, Department of Finance, 68 Mitchell St SW, 11th Floor, Atlanta, GA 30303 (404-330-6268,
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Government Finance Officers Association of British Columbia
Cooperating to Assure Financial Management Capability in Local Government: Finance Officer Development in British Columbia
Category: Management and Service Delivery
The finance officer development program, or “boot camp,” is a cooperative effort to meet a recruitment and education gap for new government finance officers and employees in British Columbia. The distance between communities in the more remote areas of British Columbia (for some towns, the closest community is six hours away) makes it difficult for smaller local governments to find experienced finance staff members, and as a result, many have hired competent and qualified accountants from the private sector who have no experience in local government. To address this situation, the volunteer board of the Government Finance Officers Association of British Columbia, which includes finance officers from a number of local government organizations, developed an intensive four-day residential program to train finance officers in the basics of legislation and public-sector financial management practices.
Contact: Sam Weller, Executive Director, 737 Fort Street, Victoria, BC V8W 2V1 (250-382-6871,
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City of Rock Hill, South Carolina
Measuring Service Performance, Not Departments: Using Dashboards to Communicate Results
Category: Management and Service Delivery
Taking the concept of dashboards a step further, the City of Rock Hill, South Carolina, decided to present a wide variety of measures in a number of categories, arranging them by service area rather than by department. This approach advances the practice of providing information to departments, elected officials, and the community in an easy to understand, straight-forward manner. The city now produces easy-to-read 30-page reports twice a year, complemented by an online performance dashboard that uses graphs, timelines, and narrative information to communicate a wealth of information about the city’s progress. Rock Hill now has an accountability system that truly increases the financial awareness of its organization and community, allowing the city to use performance management in a way that meaningfully affects its operational practices and holds the city responsible for outcomes.
Contact: Steven Gibson, Administrative Services Director, 155 Johnston St., Rock Hill, SC 29731 (803-329-5680,
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City of Beverly Hills, California
Innovating to Cut the Costs of Retirement Benefits: The City of Beverly Hills Alternative Retiree Medical Program
The City of Beverly Hills turned its rapidly escalating OPEB liability into a lower fixed cost through an innovative strategy, the Alternative Retiree Medical Program (ARMP). The city, which provided a relatively generous conventional retiree medical benefit, had substantial unfunded accrued liabilities. Through ARMP, the city bought out a number of vested incumbent employees (who volunteered for the program) and created a defined contribution OPEB benefit for new employees. ARMP allows eligible staff members to choose an alternative benefit in lieu of their current retiree medical benefits – an actuarially determined amount they can disburse to several tax-advantaged accounts or take as a cash lump sum. With 58 percent of employees accepting the exchange feature, cumulative cost reductions over 40 years totaled $260 million in unfunded liabilities.
Contact: John Shim, Management Analyst, 455 N. Rexford Drive, 3rd Floor, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 (310-285-2441,
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City of Irving, Texas
Reducing OPEB Liabilities by Improving Wellness: Irving’s ‘I Win’ Awards Incentive
The City of Irving’s I Win program shows that public entities can improve their GASB 45 outlook by using a well-developed wellness program as an effective tool for addressing the rising cost of providing health care. Most wellness programs reward employees for participating in programs, but this approach often fails to produce the desired result because it doesn’t connect the programs with outcomes or results. With the I Win program, the City of Irving found a way to link rewards with measurable goals, while maintaining regulatory compliance. And by allowing employees to accumulate reward money to offset the cost of retiree health insurance premium (when they retire), the city was able to restructure retiree premium pricing and significantly reduce its future costs. The city’s GASB liability has been cut in half, making it possible to shorten its amortization schedule from 30 to 15 years.
Contact: Z. Ike Obi, Strategic Resources Administrator, 825 W. Irving Blvd., Irving, Texas 75060 (972-721‐2665,
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