Client: Tarrant County College District
Line of Business: Public Sector (Education)
Services: Assurance
Client Contact:
Nancy Chang, Director of Finance
817.515.5222
It’s probably safe to say that not many auditor-client relationships are entering their fifth decade, but that’s exactly the case with Weaver and Tidwell and the Tarrant County College District. In 2005 TCCD marked its 40th anniversary, and Weaver and Tidwell is the only auditor the college system has ever engaged.
During those four decades numerous challenges have arisen. Probably none has been as daunting as the mandatory implementation of Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 34 during fiscal year 2002.
Explains James Fitts, Weaver and Tidwell Senior Manager, “This was a huge change in accounting standards for governmental entities, and it radically altered the way TCCD would report. A lot of consulting was done during that fiscal year.”
In a nutshell, the financial statement format mandated by GASB resulted in the biggest change in the history of public-sector accounting and financial reporting. The reporting requires the college’s statements to be presented as a single, unified entity, in many ways like a consolidated private-sector business enterprise, and uses the accrual basis of accounting. The new terminology describes TCCD’s operations as being “a special-purpose government engaged in business-type activities.”
Nancy Chang, TCCD’s director of finance, says the transition “was so complicated, but Weaver and Tidwell got us through it.” For example, she says, because the college was never before required to report depreciation, “We had to go all the way back to 1965 to get the necessary information. It was a huge task, very difficult.”
Ms. Chang, who joined the college’s accounting staff in 1972 and was named director of finance in 1990, points out that with Weaver and Tidwell’s guidance, TCCD made the auditing report deadline. “Many companies have to ask for extensions,” she says, but “we didn’t need one.”
Ms. Chang is also justifiably proud of an honor that TCCD has earned for 13 consecutive years, and she gives Weaver and Tidwell a large part of the credit. Once again, the Tarrant County College District’s comprehensive annual financial report (CAFR) has been awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.
The Certificate, presented by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada “is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management,” according to GFOA, which has a membership of 16,000 professionals nationwide.
“The transition to GASB was so complicated, but Weaver and Tidwell got us through it. We had to go all the way back to 1965 to get the necessary information. It was a huge task, very difficult. Many companies have to ask for extensions, but we didn’t need one.”
Nancy Chang, Director of Finance
Tarrant County College District