The Macon Water Authority
790 Second Street • Macon, GA 31202-0108 • (478) 464-5600
MWA Finance Department Honored
Dec 16, 2019 by Chris Wood, Ph.D.

The MWA received the GFOA Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 22nd straight year. (L to R): Lisa Golphin, Doricale Smith, Tarika Parks, Margarita Gomes, Arleen Samuels, Barry Smallwood, and CFO Guy Boyle.
It’s now 22 in a row and counting. That’s the number of consecutive years the MWA has received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), who recently announced that the MWA has again received this honor for this year.
The Certificate of Achievement is an industry award recognizing the quality, validity and accuracy of the Authority’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). Less than 5 percent of eligible governments and authorities in the United States and Canada quality for such an honor. This is the highest form of achievement in the area of government accounting and financial reporting, and receiving the Certificate of Achievement is a significant accomplishment.
In addition to receiving the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, GFOA has recognized the MWA with the 2019 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Reporting, which marks the seventh consecutive year the Authority has garnered this award of excellence.
The Outstanding Achievement Award recognizes the quality of the Authority’s most recent Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR), which is a condensed version of the CAFR. The MWA publishes an annual PAFR with the intention of providing the public, especially MWA customers, with an easy-to-read document that presents a financial and operational summary of the past fiscal year. The PAFR also includes public information on the MWA’s governance, operations, educational partnerships, and more.
The GFOA Outstanding Achievement Award also is very selective in nature, with less that 1 percent of all eligible governments and authorities receiving this honor annually, placing the MWA and its Finance Department in select company.
The Authority’s CAFR and PAFR were judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the GFOA’s awards program. The Reports reflect a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly communicate the MWA’s financial story to citizens, while encouraging their readership of both documents.
The most recent CAFR and PAFR are available on this MWA website (www.maconwater.org), with the easier-to-read PAFR available through the “Learn More” link below.
Media contact:
Chris Wood, Ph.D.
P: 770-757-1681
E: chris@jwapr.com
Tagged: mwa, macon water authority, gfoa, government finance officers association, gfoa certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting, gfoa award for outstanding achievement in popular annual financial reporting