Financial Transparency!

For the 4th year in a row, our ace finance team at the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority has won the prestigious Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Financial Officers Association. This is the highest award for an excellent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) or audit.

This award come just about a week after getting the news that our Budget also won top honors from GFOA.

Both our audits and our budgets for several years are available on-line at: http://www.nvrpa.org/park/main_site/content/financials

Financial transparency (how easy it is for the public to understand your numbers) is essential for public agencies. If you find a public agency that does not have clear financial documents that can be easily accessed, demand more. It is essential for our economic and political systems to have public agencies with understandable financial documents.

Happy Birthday America

The photo above is of Balls Bluff Battlefield in Leesburg Virginia. The stone was in the background is the smallest National Cemetery. The cannon in the foreground is a replica of the 12 pounder that was modified to fire James Shells (exploding shells). This, plus two Mountain Howitzers we taken across the Potomac River is small row boats and pulled up a narrow path that went up to the battlefield that is about 80 feet above the river.

The battle took place in October 1861 being one of the early battles of the Civil War. In the end the Union forces were positioned with their backs to the 80 foot drop off to the river. The Confederates pushed the Union forces back and many of them were driven off the cliffs to the river below.

For more information on Balls Bluff see: http://www.nvrpa.org/park/ball_s_bluff/