For the second time in 3 years, Gilmer County Schools and its Chief Financial Officer and Director of Finance, Trina Penland, have been awarded for Distinction for Excellent Financial Reporting by the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts.

According to the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, the award was established to “recognize excellence in financial reporting and controls. It encourages governmental organizations to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and recognizes individual organizations that are successful in achieving this goal.”

This award comes alongside the School Systems Audit Report with no findings and no questions on accounts, a feat lauded as extremely difficult by Board Chairman Jim Parmer. In fact, of the 150 counties that this state department reports on, only 27 have received this distinction this year. Some of the qualifications for the award require the annual financial report “must also be free of any significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, comply with all Transparency in Government requirements, and be given an unmodified audit opinion.”

Although the award is for Gilmer County Schools as a whole, both Chairman Parmer and Superintendent Dr. Shanna Wilkes applauded their CFO Trina Penland and her hard work as the foundation of the school system’s success on this report.