NEWS RELEASE

December 4, 2002

CARY, NC – The big news coming out of the Town of Cary this week is nothing.

In this age of ENRON and WORLDCOM, nothing is big news when it’s the result of a four-month, comprehensive audit of the financial statements of one of the largest, purely publicly held corporations in the Triangle-- the Town of Cary, which has over $787 million in net assets.

The results of the audit—expressed in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)--were public Tuesday at a meeting of a committee of the Cary Town Council. The CAFR for fiscal year 2002 gives a clean bill of health to the Town’s financial statements, controls, and management and calls for no significant changes in the organizations audited processes.

"The bottom line for our citizens is that the audit and the report show that we’re truthful, transparent, and trustworthy," said Town of Cary Finance Director Karen Mills. Mills noted that Cary’s CAFR has received the Government Finance Officers' Association’s Certificate of Excellence for 17 years, and she expects that this year’s report will yield the same accolades.

For the second of a three year contract, the Town’s audit was performed by Cherry, Bekaert & Holland LLP (CBH), certified public accountants out of Fayetteville, NC. "The audit went extremely smoothly this year," reported CBH’s Eddie Burke to the Town Council’s Operations Committee. Burke said that the Town’s internal controls were "very good" and that Town staff demonstrated "a high degree of integrity."

While Town staff work to put the document online, citizens can for now review the CAFR by visiting Town Hall or the downtown Cary library.

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