08/02/2021
NYSTRS has won a Triple Crown... not for horse racing but for excellence in financial reporting. The award, from a national finance association, honors government organizations for excellence in clear, detailed and transparent financial reporting.
NYSTRS is one of only four public pension plans in the U.S. and Canada to earn the Triple Crown award for fiscal year 2019 reporting, the most recent year covered.
The financial Triple Crown is given by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) to government organizations that have received all three of the GFOA’s major awards in one year: the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Award, the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, and the Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award.
A total of 292 U.S. and Canadian government organizations earned the Triple Crown award for fiscal year 2019, but only four of those are public pension plans. The other pension plans honored are the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, and the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund.
See the GFOA website at gfoa.org for the complete list.
The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Award, created in 1945, recognizes organizations that “go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare comprehensive annual financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure,” according to the GFOA.
The GFOA describes the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award as honoring organizations that “prepare budget documents of the very highest quality.” In addition, the GFOA says the Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award honors those who produce a high quality popular annual report “specifically designed to be readily accessible and easily understandable to the general public and other interested parties without a background in public finance.”