Agda Pkt 2025.06.23 Joint SA PFA

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Page 3 of 6 City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org ANALYSIS Redwood City has a long history of commitment to integrity and ethical behavior, and this is reflected in the City’s workplace culture in many ways. Integrity has long been included in the City’s core values and was recently reaffirmed by citywide employees in comprehensive process to update the City’s values that included multiple employee surveys, meetings and focus group discussions. Employees consistently and overwhelming identified integrity as a core value and adopted the statement “Do the right thing, not the easy thing” as a supporting statement for this value. City staff have reviewed existing practices and policies against the best practices recommended by the federal government’s Green Book of standards for internal control issued by the U.S. General Accounting Office; the standards of the Government Financial Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA); “Internal Control Guidelines – California Local Agencies” issued by the California State Controller’s Office to comply with California Government Code section 12422.5; publications by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO); and other guidelines and training materials based on widely accepted best practices in internal controls for local governments. This analysis confirmed that Redwood City has many excellent internal controls in place to reduce risk, particularly with respect to ensuring the responsible stewardship and protection of the taxpayers’ dollars. Financial Management Attachment A to this report provides a brief summary of internal controls practiced and/or enforced by the City’s Finance Department through the normal course of conducting business. In addition to these operational practices, the City produces several public documents annually to transparently report on its finances, all of which are available on the City’s website: Annual Budget: In accordance with the City Charter, in June of each year, the City Manager presents a Recommended Budget to the City Council that lays out a balanced budget to provide funding for each City department to provide services to the Redwood City community for the coming year. In addition to documenting operating expenses, the Budget includes an annual Capital Improvement Program to fund capital infrastructure projects. The Budget also includes a 10-year forecast to communicate the City’s financial stability. Redwood City has earned the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the GFOA every year for the past 8 years. Annual Comprehensive Financial Report: This report is prepared by City staff and audited by an outside accounting firm every year. This report is prepared following the guidelines recommended by the GFOA and the standards adopted by the U.S. Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). It provides a detailed overview of the City's financial position and performance for the prior fiscal year with the goal of providing transparency and accountability to the public and other stakeholders about the City’s financial health. Redwood City is extremely proud to have earned the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the GFOA every year for more than 30 years! Single Audit: The Annual Comprehensive Financial Report is part of a broader, federally mandated “Single Audit” designed to meet the special needs of federal grantor agencies. The standards governing Single Audit engagements require the independent auditor to report not only on the fair presentation of the financial statements, but also on the City’s internal controls and 6.C. - Page 3 of 9 73