The Northwestern Water and Sewer District has received the Ohio auditor of state award with distinction after its recent financial audit by Auditor of State Keith Faber’s office.

Lori Brodie, northwest regional liaison to the auditor’s office, presented the award during the district’s board of trustees meeting. The auditor’s office is responsible for auditing more than 5,900 state and local government agencies. Of those, only 3 to 5 percent qualify for the award with distinction.

To receive the award, entities must meet the following criteria of a “clean” audit report:

•The entity must file financial reports with the auditor of state’s office by the statutory due date, without extension, on a GAAP accounting basis and prepare an annual comprehensive financial report, and

•The audit report does not contain any findings for recovery, material citations, material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, uniform guidance findings or questioned costs; In addition, the entity’s management letter must not contain comments related to ethics referrals; questioned costs less than the threshold per the uniform guidance; lack of timely report submission; bank reconciliation issues; failure to obtain a timely single audit in accordance with uniform guidance; findings for recovery less than $500; public meetings or public records issues, and have no financial or other concerns.