Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting (COA) Award Program

Awards

Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting (COA) Award Program

The GFOA established the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program (COA) in 1945 to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare annual comprehensive financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal. The goal of the program is not to assess the financial health of participating governments, but rather to ensure that users of their financial statements have the information they need to do so themselves.

Important Announcements

  • Delayed 2025 Single Audit Compliance Supplement: GFOA is aware of the federal government’s delay in issuing the 2025 Single Audit Compliance Supplement. Please note that the Single Audit is not required for the Certificate of Achievement (COA) program and therefore this delay does not affect the due date of COA applications. We understand that while some governments issue the ACFR and federal Single Audit as two separate documents, others combine them into one document, making meeting the COA deadline challenging in this circumstance. If your ACFR is delayed due to the compliance supplement delay, GFOA will consider an extension for this reason. Please request an extension in our Awards Management System (AMS) no sooner than two weeks prior to the due date.  An extension should be requested only if needed and not as a placeholder.
  • Turn Around Time: The COA program’s objective is to complete reviews within six months of receiving applications. However, a backlog had developed that have lengthened the turnaround time for our award decisions. Our recent turnaround time has been averaging up to and sometimes just over eight months; however, we are now successfully working through the backlog. While it is expected to take a few years to completely eliminate the backlog, please know that we are progressing toward – and are committed to – timely award decisions. Thank you for your patience as we resolve this temporary backlog.
  • Calculation of the Net Investment in Capital Asset: GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Award Program (COA) requires all applicants to submit the calculation of the net investment in capital assets they report for governmental activities and business-type activities, as applicable, on their government-wide statements of net position. The calculation of the net investment in capital assets submission may be made in PDF or Excel format and a calculation template is available.

 

Program Information

Using GFOA’s Awards Management System

Certificate applications are processed through GFOA’s Awards Management System (AMS). Each government submits its annual comprehensive financial report and application in the AMS and retrieves its results in the system once the review is completed.

Reviewer Information

  • Become a Reviewer

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  • Update Your Volunteer Profile and Preferences

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  • Completing Reviews Using GFOA's Awards Management System

    View Instructions

  • Current members of the Special Review Executive Committee

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  • FY2023 COA Volunteer Reviewers

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Note: For logging in to the AMS, a volunteer reviewer’s username is his or her GFOA member number. See FAQs for more information.

List of Winners

GFOA congratulates the award winners for preparing an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report that meets the strict requirements for the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting

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Related Award Programs

If you have questions about the Certificate Program or about the AMS, please contact GFOA.

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