A typical city or county presents over one hundred separate financial reviews in their annual report. “As a result, compiling annual financial reports in government is technically more difficult and is a problem unique to government financial reporting,” notes Joe Stimac, CEO, Thales Consulting. Though financial reports in local government are transparent, constituents often fail to realize that their governments, just like publicly traded companies, prepare an associated financial report to document the past financial activities. These financial reports require formatting, and the absence of a single Microsoft Office application for formatting financials often makes it a time consuming process, while compiling annual government reports. Enter Thales Consulting—a Sacramento, CA based consulting company, providing proprietary software to prepare reports for local governments.

By enabling governments to organize and streamline processes, the company’s flagship product—Comprehensive Annual Financial Report Online (CAFR-Online.com)combines the functions of a financial database and a text editor. The CAFR is a regulated document that requires the efforts of the local government, independent auditor, and both parties to have technical knowledge of the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB). “Our software enables a government to streamline and organize the compilation process. In case of a resource crunch during any point in the project, our service focus provides them with the option of availing our services for final for¬matting or data entry,” asserts Stimac. CAFR-Online.com is offered as a SaaS and runs online using Internet Explorer. This results in a simplified collaboration, enabling users in multiple locations to work on CAFR simultaneously.

Financial statements in CAFR-Online.com are generated by a financial database. This database stores the trial balance extracted from the client ledger system, unique formatting, and classifications. Classifications dictate how the chart of the accounts structure should appear on the financial statements. The financial database also stores adjustments. Any change made to the financial statements through either classifications or adjustments get updated automatically.