Revenues/Expenditures/Expenses (Schedule 01)

4 Reporting

4.8 SAO Annual Report Schedules

4.8.1 Revenues/Expenditures/Expenses (Schedule 01)

4.8.1.10 The purpose of this schedule is to report the local government’s financial activity for the reporting year including beginning balances, revenues, expenditures and ending balances for all reportable funds and activities. These are reported using BARS accounts to identify the specific type of activity.

4.8.1.20 Local governments are required to update the incorrect financial data submitted on this schedule. The requirement applies to all errors found prior to or during an audit.

4.8.1.25 Local governments completing the Schedule 01 must ensure the data submitted is accurate. Each reported fund is required to balance within $1,000. If one or more reported fund(s) do not balance within $1,000, it will result in a required error. The annual report cannot be submitted until all required errors are resolved.

This schedule is submitted as part of the annual report via the filing system on the State Auditor’s website at: https://portal.sao.wa.gov/LGCS/. The filing system will only accept an Excel file formatted in the prescribed record layout (see BARS 4.8.1.50 below). The Amount column must be formatted as a number (the system will round to the nearest whole number); all other columns must be formatted as text.

4.8.1.30 The Schedule 01 templates can be found on the BARS Reporting Templates page. Templates are updated each year with changes to BARS account so it’s important for local governments to use the newest version of the template from the SAO’s website. There is no Schedule 01 template for cities/towns and counties because they have access to the majority of BARS accounts. A complete listing of BARS accounts by government type/accounting basis can be run from the BARS Account Export page.

For additional information on reporting requirements, please see:

• BARS 4.1.5, Reporting Requirements and Filing Instructions for Cities and Counties
• BARS 4.1.6, Reporting Requirements and Filing Instructions for Special Purpose Districts
• Also see, BARS 4.1.7, GAAP Versus Cash Basis Reporting

4.8.1.50 The Schedule 01 should be formatted as follows for upload (also see example below):

Note: Blank rows may cause upload errors (the system interprets this as the end of the reported data). If using a template, unused rows should be deleted entirely; alternately, the Amount field may be entered as zero ($0). Hiding rows and/or clearing cells will result in upload errors.

Row 1: Column headers; this row may be populated but will not be included in the data import (i.e., financial data in the first row of the Excel will be deleted upon import).

Column 1: MCAG number; this column may be left blank, but must be included for data import.

Column 2: Fund number; provide the three-digit fund number as prescribed in the BARS 3.1.7, Fund Accounting and Fund Types. Make sure that the fund number correlates with the correct fund type. If using a template, the fund number is pre-filled out.

Column 3: Fund name; this should be the title of the fund, suitable for presentation on the financial statements. Normally, this would be the official title of the fund that matches the accounting system. However, in some circumstances the name may need to be changed to ensure it is sufficiently understandable for financial statement users. For example, acronyms or abbreviations should generally not be used since they would not be understandable for external financial statement users. For this reason, fund names with less than 4 characters are flagged as a warning error in the online filing system. Also, to fit properly on the financial statement, the fund name is limited to a maximum of 40 characters.

Only one fund name is allowed for each reported fund number. Multiple fund names for a given fund number will result in a required error, and the annual report cannot be submitted until the error is resolved (e.g., if a line reports the fund number “001” with a fund name “General” and another line reports the fund number “001” with a fund name “Current Expense”, a required error will occur. This validation check is identified based on the text, so clerical errors like transposed letters will generate a required error).

Column 4: BARS account; coding must be valid based on the government type and basis of accounting.

• All BARS accounts must be reported as seven digits.
• For a full list of available accounts, download your chart of accounts from the BARS Account Export
• For special purpose districts, the templates are available that include the BARS accounts for your government type on the BARS Reporting Templates

Column 5: BARS account title; the Account Title can be found in the chart of accounts export, see the BARS Account Export page. If using a template, this is pre-filled out.

Column 6: Amounts; please note:

• Activity in BARS accounts should be reported as a positive value (for both revenues and expenditures). There are limited circumstances when a negative revenue or expenditure amount would be reported.
• Schedule 01 data is reported in whole dollars; the system will automatically round amounts including decimals to the nearest dollar upon upload.
• Do not include rows with totals, sub-totals, notes, etc. Rows should be limited to the above-prescribed data.

4.8.1.60 The Schedule should exclude the following:

• Clearing and suspense funds. For more information on this topic, see BARS 3.8.6.100, Use of Payroll and Claims Funds.
• Managerial funds. For more information, on this topic, see BARS 3.1.12, Managerial Funds.

4.8.1.70 Cities/towns and counties are required to include all fiduciary funds on the Schedule 01. Counties should include data for all special purpose districts which would be reported in a custodial fund. The Statement C-5 will present the data by the fund type only and only include the beginning balances, increases, decreases and ending balances. Counties should not use functional BARS accounts for the special purpose districts. For more information on reporting fiduciary activity, see BARS 3.1.11, Determining Fiduciary Activities to be Reported in Custodial Funds. Detailed guidance on fund coding can be found in BARS 3.1.7, Fund Accounting and Fund Types.

For assistance, submit questions to the SAO HelpDesk through our Online Services.

If you need assistance resolving required or warning errors please see available filing system resources on the BARS & Annual Filing FAQ page specifically the Error Guide.