Financial Reporting

City of Mission Annual Reports (including audited financial statements) are prepared in accordance with sections 98 and 99 of the Community Charter and are to be presented at a public meeting each year. The 2023 Annual Report was presented at Regular Council on June 17, 2024.  See below for links to prior Annual Reports.

The City of Mission has submitted its Annual Report and audited financial statements to the GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada) to be considered for their annual Canadian Award for Financial Reporting program.  We are proud to say that we have been awarded the Canadian Award for Financial Reporting for our Annual Reports since 2006.

The Canadian Award for Financial Reporting program was established to encourage municipal governments throughout Canada to publish high quality financial reports and to provide peer recognition and technical guidance for officials preparing these reports.

In order to be awarded a Canadian Award for Financial Reporting, a government unit must publish an easily readable and efficiently organized annual financial report, whose contents conform to program standards.  Such reports should go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles and demonstrate an effort to clearly communicate the municipal government’s financial picture, enhance an understanding of financial reporting by municipal governments, and address user needs.

The Community Charter requires that every BC municipality prepare annual audited financial statements.

These statements must be prepared according to the generally accepted accounting principles for local governments in Canada, and submitted to the Inspector of Municipalities by May 15th of the following year.  The audited financial statements can be found in the City’s Annual Report (see below).

There are four main components to our financial statements

• Statement of Financial Position
• Statement of Operations
• Statement of Cash Flows
• Statement of Change in Net Financial Assets (Net Debt)

In addition, the Notes to Financial Statements contain important information and explanations that complement disclosure required by legislation and regulations.

What’s in the financial statements?

Financial statements provide information on a municipality’s financial position in terms of its assets and liabilities, its net financial assets (or net debt), its accumulated surplus (or deficit), and its tangible capital assets and other non-financial assets.

City Surplus

The City’s annual surplus is due to many one-time budget savings that occur, for example: redirection of City’s resources, staffing vacancies, a delay in a project’s starting date, or an increase in revenue from services provided.  Each year the surplus is added to the City’s Accumulated Surplus Account and is used to fund such items as: future Council initiatives, emergent issues, advancing a project, or funding a temporary influx of service requests.

A Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) Report is required to be submitted by the end of June each year to the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development under section 2 of the Financial Information Act.  The SOFI report contains the following information:

• Audited Financial Statements
• Schedule of Guarantee and Indemnity agreements
• Schedule of employee remuneration
• Schedule of Council remuneration
• Schedule of payments to suppliers