Grosse Pointe Woods honored for financial reports

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — Grosse Pointe Woods’ audit report has again been honored for going above and beyond what’s required of this document.

The audit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2021, received the Government Finance Officers Association’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. Mayor Arthur Bryant announced the city’s receipt of this honor during a Nov. 21 City Council meeting. He said this marks the 48th year the Woods has earned this award.

The certificate recognizes the work of Woods Treasurer/Comptroller Shawn Murphy.

“Shawn has just done a wonderful job on all of this work,” Bryant said.

He said she has a sharp eye for detail. Bryant said Murphy has caught several financial errors and corrected them, some of which were made by her predecessors.

“The GFOA established the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program (Certificate Program) in 1945 to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare annual financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal,” GFOA Technical Services Director Michele Mark Levine wrote in a letter to Murphy. “The Certificate of Achievement is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting.”

Bryant announced that Murphy was also honored by the GFOA for the Woods’ Popular Annual Financial Report, or PAFR. A PAFR is a reader-friendly summary of the city’s finances, sometimes in brochure form. This was in recognition of the PAFR for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2021.

The council and city administrators gave Murphy a standing ovation. Murphy thanked city officials for the kudos.

“Nice job,” City Councilman Todd McConaghy told Murphy.

Murphy was hired as the deputy treasurer/comptroller in the Woods 12 years ago and has been the treasurer/comptroller for the last two years.

After the meeting, Murphy said she’d be applying for the GFOA honor for the 2021-22 audit by the end of this year.