Gashaw Woldehanna has more than 14 years of experience in accounting and financial reporting and is the cluster controller for the Government Operations Cluster (GOC), which he joined in 2011 and has served in various capacities. In his current role, he oversees the accounting operations of 38 agencies within the cluster and establishes monitoring and enforcing policies, procedures, and internal controls to assure compliance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), District financial policies and procedures, and applicable federal rules and regulations. 

Throughout his tenure with the OCFO, he has led and performed end-to-end accounting and financial reporting functions, implemented policies, procedures, and accounting standards applicable to the GOC agencies. He also completed the routine periodic closing activities in compliance with the District’s standards and guidelines and periodically assessed and improved the design and implementation of internal controls in various process areas to ensure compliance, efficiency, effectiveness and, audit readiness.

Prior to joining GOC, he served as a finance consultant at the University of the District of Columbia, under a local CPA Firm -- Regis and Associates PC, in a critical engagement for two years. In this engagement, he assisted in the review and reconciliation of the general ledger, preparation of the component unit financial statements, and in support of the external audits.

In addition to the accounting routines, he prepared agency-specific policies and procedures, and standardized and automated certain manual processes to ensure efficiency, accuracy, and audit trails. He provided an intra-district workshop to District-wide agencies to assist in the year-end closing. He handled complex and unusual financial accounting issues and introduced process improvements. 

Woldehanna earned a master's in business administration from Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, in 2012, and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Debub University, also called Hawassa University, Ethiopia in 2005. He is a certified public accountant, a certified government finance manager, and also a member of the America Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Association of Government Accountants.