Save Time And Improve Your Existing GFOA Award-Winning Budget Book

CONGRATULATIONS on being the recipient of a shiny GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award! We know how much work goes into preparing your budget book to meet the GFOA’s extensive list of award criteria.

We also know why it’s a priority for many governments to be recognized by the GFOA for excellence in budgeting, because it:

• Creates a better experience for your citizens and stakeholders
• Promotes your commitment to transparency and accountability
• Supports better decision-making
• Improves your standing with credit rating agencies
• Helps you continually improve your budgeting process and budget book
• Justifies your departments’ initiatives
• Supports long-term capital planning
• Turns your budget book into a true communication tool

But what if you could continue to produce an engaging and award-winning budget book in a fraction of the time?

With ClearGov’s Digital Budget Book solution, you can.

Focus On Content, Rather Than Formatting

Every local government finance department that has ever manually created a several-hundred-page-long PDF budget book knows what a labor of love it is. Is it worth it at the end, when you have a comprehensive, award-winning budget book that tells citizens how every tax dollar is spent? Of course!

But have you ever thought to yourself, “There’s got to be a better way?”

ClearGov’s Digital Budget Book automates much of the budget book process for you. Instead of worrying about the formatting, you can focus on the content — on the strategic information you want to share with your community.

The City of Ypsilanti has received the GFOA Distinguished Budget Award for the last 6 years, first time using ClearGov this year. One big change was ClearGov made the budget preparation easier. We used less time building the budget and more time focusing on its contents.

Rheagan Basabica,
Finance Director/Treasurer, City of Ypsilanti, MI

Save Time & Create An Even BETTER Budget Book

When you use ClearGov’s Digital Budget Book solution, it:

Automates the creation process with templates – Simple, informative, and interactive templates provide a consistent, branded presentation for every page in your budget book: department pages, fund summaries, capital improvement plan, etc.

Creates data-driven charts and graphics, automatically! – Visual elements that support your data are automatically created. Because the budget book is web-based, users can interact with the graphs and toggle between chart types to view data in a way that makes sense to them.

Moving forward, I know our budgeting process will be a lot easier! Instead of having to manually create new charts, our data in ClearGov auto-generates charts and graphs. This allows us to focus on the content rather than spending time on formatting.

Rheagan Basabica,
Finance Director/Treasurer, City of Ypsilanti, MI

Pre-populates key sections to meet GFOA criteria – The GFOA award criteria has been built into ClearGov’s framework and templates, along with an easy-to-follow checklist. Your digital budget book will auto-create key sections and pre-populate them with data to get you started. Simply add your narrative.

One reviewer even gave us an Outstanding rating for Document-wide Criteria and noted: “The new software they have implemented is great. Graphics, charts, formatting: all exceptional. Outstanding as a communication device.” We are thankful to ClearGov for all of their support throughout the process.

Janet Holman,
Financial Systems Manager of Montgomery County, OH

Invites department heads to add context – Cloud-based, real-time collaboration allows department heads to automatically add context, narrative, and strategic goals within the system, instead of back-and-forth emailing.

As you know, each year we must respond to the comments of the reviewers from the prior year’s document. I think that the ClearGov platform will enable us to spend more time addressing improvements and less time on the construction of the PDF itself.

Glenda Bradley,
Deputy County Administrator, Orange County, VA. Read the full case study here.

Provides a better experience for your citizens – An interactive, web-based budget book is a better way to view the budget that is easier to navigate and understand than traditional PDF documents.

Optimizes ADA accessibility, automatically! – Content, font size, and spacing, and visual elements like charts, buttons, and headers use optimized color combinations that are automatically formatted to meet ADA guidelines.

Some states even have mandates around the accessibility of your financial documents. Watch our webinar about CO house bill 21-1110 to learn more.

WATCH: Why GFOA Award Winner, Woodbridge, CT Chose ClearGov To Produce Their Digital Budget Book

Presentation of Woodbridge’s Digital Budget Book

Why Woodbridge Chose ClearGov

Why an Interactive Budget Book Beats a Static Document

Ready To Save Time & Improve YOUR Award-Winning Budget Book?

Watch a quick demo of ClearGov Digital Budget Book, and get ready to make winning a GFOA award easier than ever!