BARS Account Exports In this section, governments can access a report providing information on the allowability of BARS codes in fund types as well as export a chart of accounts specific to a government type.
BARS Codes to Fund Type BARS codes may be restricted for use in the annual report filing system. The following matrix “Codes to Funds” identifies which fund group(s) that each active BARS code may be reported in.
Download FY2022 Codes to Funds here. Codes are as of November 30, 2022.
Note: It is recommended to use this matrix in conjunction with the government specific BARS Account Export provided below.
BARS Account Export Download a government specific BARS Chart of Accounts in the export box at the bottom of this page.
Your annual report requires seven digits for all account codes however, their display in the chart of accounts export varies. The expenditure or expense accounts are presented in the export without object codes. Object codes will need to be added to the BARS Code to complete the required seven digits for the annual report. Additional details about object codes are available in the BARS Manual 1.4. The reporting at the subobject level is not required.
How to use the BARS Account Export
Select a government type The government type selection will limit the BARS accounts that are applicable to the selected government type. If allis selected, the export will include BARS accounts for all government types.
Select basis of accounting The basis of accounting selection will limit the BARS accounts that are applicable to the basis of accounting selected (GAAP or Cash). If allis selected, the export will include all the BARS codes regardless of their applicability to a specific basis.
Select export type The Excel option provides a spreadsheet which you can format. The PDF is formatted to highlight the different categories of account codes and for printing. For display purposes, the account codes contain decimal points which should be excluded in your annual report. Select a reporting level Above and Prescribed option includes all the accounts, including the accounts in which other codes are rolled up into for category presentation. These above prescribed codes are not valid for reporting, however they provide detailed information on the category of the codes. This listing also provides the Prescribed accounts, which are the required accounts for annual report filing. The Prescribed option includes only the accounts which are the valid BARS account codes for annual report filing.
2.4.1.10 A budget is a legal document that forecasts the financial resources of a government and authorizes the spending of those resources for a fiscal period. At a minimum, local governments’ budget must meet the requirements of Washington state law and the State Auditor’s Office. The SAO does not prescribe how to budget or what a budget should look like. The adopted budget should be of sufficient detail to be meaningful and meet the intention of the law. The SAO considers budgets showing revenues and expenditures at the legal fund level to be the minimum acceptable level of detail.
2.4.1.20 Budgeting is more than just an activity to satisfy state law. It is a sophisticated process of strategic planning, communication and policy development resulting in a detailed plan of operations for allocating and monitoring the use of limited resources among various competing demands. Teaching how to budget is outside the scope of the BARS. However, there are many educational resources available to local governments, such as the Municipal Research and Services Center (mrsc.org) and the Government Finance Officers Association (gfoa.org).
2.4.1.30 Glossary of budgetary terms:
Annual/biennial appropriated budget – A fixed budget adopted for the government’s fiscal period. The appropriated budget was traditionally used to determine a government’s property tax levy, and a ceiling on expenditures was made absolute so that the expenditures of a government unit would not exceed its revenues. This budget was also historically a balanced budget, estimated revenues equaling appropriations. The appropriated budget is still used to set tax levies and some budget statutes still require balanced budgets, but it is more generally used to authorize a specific amount of expenditures regardless of whether estimated resources meet or exceed that amount. Appropriated budgets are required by statute in cities (Chapter 35.32A RCW, Chapter 35.33 RCW and Chapter 35A.33 RCW), counties (Chapter 36.40 RCW), and most other local governments in Washington State. These budgets are also called legal budgets, adopted budgets, or formal budgets. The appropriated budgets should be adopted by ordinance or resolution.
Appropriation – The legal spending level authorized by a budget ordinance or resolution. Spending should not exceed this level without prior approval of the governing body.
Capital improvement budget – Consists of two elements: the annual/biennial portion of capital projects and annual/biennial appropriations for the purchase, construction or replacement of major fixed assets in the current fiscal period.
Comprehensive budget – A government-wide budget that includes all resources the government expects and everything it intends to spend or encumber during a fiscal period. The comprehensive budget contains annual/biennial appropriated budgets, the annual/biennial portion of continuing appropriations such as the capital improvement projects, debt amortization schedules, and grant projects, flexible budgets and all non-budgeted funds.
Continuing appropriation – A fixed budget which authorizes expenditures for a fiscal period that differs from the government’s fiscal year, such as capital projects, debt issues, grant awards, and other service projects. These expenditures require an ordinance or resolution to authorize the project, establish the assessment roll, adopt the debt amortization schedule, or accept the grant award. Such ordinances or resolutions set an absolute maximum or ceiling on the expenditures, but the time period for incurring expenditures does not coincide with the government’s fiscal year; it may even cover several years. The major difference between annual/biennial appropriated budgets and continuing appropriations is that the latter do not lapse at fiscal period end; this implies that no legislative action is required to amend the annual/biennial portion of a continuing appropriation, unless the total authorized expenditures would exceed the entire appropriation.
Encumbrances – Commitments related to unperformed (executory) contracts for goods or services should be utilized to the extent necessary to assure effective budgetary control and to facilitate cash planning. Encumbrances outstanding at year end represent the estimated amount of expenditures ultimately to result if unperformed contracts in process are completed; they do not constitute expenditures or liabilities.
Final amended budget – The original budget adjusted by all reserves, transfers, allocations, supplemental appropriations, and other legally authorized legislative and executive changes applicable to the fiscal year, whenever signed into law or otherwise legally authorized.
Fixed budget – Those budgets which set an absolute maximum or ceiling on the expenditures of a particular fund, department, or other specific category. A fixed budget can be either an annual/biennial appropriated budget or a continuing appropriation. Fixed budgets must be adopted by ordinance or resolution, either for the government’s fiscal period or at the outset of a service project, debt issue, grant award, or capital project.
Flexible budgets – Are usually regarded as managerial tools, which do not set a ceiling on expenses or expenditures but establish a plan for them at various levels of service. They are especially appropriate for the day-to-day operations of a public utility where it is essential to plan fluctuations in the demand for services and where revenues will automatically increase with demand, so that a balanced budget does not depend on establishing a ceiling for expenses.
Operating budget – Presents the estimated expenditures and available resources necessary to provide the services for which the government was created. An operating budget will contain flexible budgets and fixed budgets; the fixed budgets will include annual/biennial appropriations for services and the annual/biennial portion of continuing appropriations for debt service and for service projects.
Original budget – The first complete appropriated budget. The original budget may be adjusted by reserves, transfers, allocations, supplemental appropriations, and other legally authorized legislative and executive changes before the beginning of the fiscal year. The original budget should also include actual appropriation amounts automatically carried over from prior years by law.
Working capital budget – Combines flexible and fixed budget elements in one document for enterprise and internal service funds. Current operations are flexibly budgeted based on the estimated level of services to be provided and long-range sources and uses of assets are controlled by annual/biennial appropriations and continuing appropriations.
3.1.8.10 There are often limitations on how all or a portion of a government’s resources can be spent. Accordingly, the BARS manual requires beginning and ending cash and investments be classified as nonspendable, restricted, committed, assigned, or unassigned. These classifications indicate “the extent to which the government is bound to honor constraints on the specific purposes for which amounts in the fund can be spent.” The classifications reflect these limitations and inform management and financial statement users how much of the government’s resources are reserved for a specific purpose or use and how much is freely available for spending.
3.1.8.20 BARS accounts 3082100 and 5082100 define the beginning and ending nonspendable cash and investments as the amounts of cash and investments that according to laws or contracts cannot be spent (required to be maintained intact). This category applies to items like permanent endowments when the donor stipulates that the principal amount of the contribution must be preserved and invested and only the earnings can be used for governmental purposes.
This category can only be used in permanent (700) and trust (600-629) funds.
3.1.8.21 BARS accounts 3083100 and 5083100 define the beginning and ending restricted cash and investments as the amounts of cash and investments that is subject to externally enforceable legal restrictions (imposed by creditors, grantors, donors, other governments, most voter approved levies, etc.). The restrictions may also be imposed by law through constitutional provisions or enabling legislation. For more information on external restrictions please see BARS manual 3.1.8.40 below.
This category can be used in all fund types. Custodial funds must report beginning and ending cash and investment balances in this category.
3.1.8.22 BARS accounts 3084100 and 5084100 define the beginning and ending committed cash and investments as the amounts of cash and investments that is constrained by specific limitations that the government imposes upon itself at the highest level of decision making (normally the governing body) through the most binding formal action (e.g. resolution, ordinance, etc.) and that remains binding unless removed in the same manner. For more information on internal restrictions please see BARS manual 3.1.8.50 below.
This category can be used only in governmental and proprietary funds.
3.1.8.30 BARS accounts 3085100 and 5085100 define the beginning and ending assigned cash and investments as the amounts of cash and investments that reflects a government’s intended use of resources. These are amounts intended to be used by the government for specific purposes that are neither restricted nor committed. Intent can be expressed in one of two ways:
The governing body can state its intent to use resources for a specific purpose. The intent would be expressed in an informal way such as a motion or other form of a directive.
The governing body can delegate authority to others (e.g., finance or executive director, chief, head of a department, manager, etc.) to express intent to use amounts for specific purposes.
Any transfer of resources to funds other than the general fund represents an assignment since the transfer represents the intent for those resources to be used for a specific purpose.
The creation of a fund outside of the general fund is considered at least assigned, since the creation of a fund automatically sets aside the monies for a purpose.
By definition a special purpose district’s monies in any fund that is not the general fund are considered at least assigned since they are only able to use the monies for the purpose of their government.
3.1.8.31 BARS accounts 3089100 and 5089100 define the beginning and ending unassigned cash and investments as the amounts of cash and investments that are remaining after classifying amounts as nonspendable, restricted, committed, or assigned. Unassigned amounts are technically available for any purpose. The general fund is the only fund that can have a positive unassigned cash and investments balance since all other funds represent a specific purpose for their resources.
3.1.8.40 Any constraints on the purpose or use of resources imposed by an external party constitutes restricted classification. Any cash and investment balance subject to these restrictions must be reported as restricted. Generally the purpose of externally restricted revenue would need to be narrower than the purpose of the fund; unless the government has created a fund for this specific revenue. For example:
Unspent resources contributed by other governments in accordance with an interlocal agreement (contract) for future replacement of a building would be classified as restricted because they are subject to a specific external restriction.
Unspent operating assessments received by a government would not be classified as restricted even though it’s received from an external party. This could be classified as committed, assigned, or unassigned because such resources are not subject to specific restrictions but may be used for any allowable purpose of the government.
Any unspent taxes or other collections restricted by RCW for a specific purpose (e.g., hotel/motel tax, retainage collected or withheld, etc.)
All revenues generated by water sales can only be spent on water related activities and cannot be transferred to general fund to be spent for other governmental purposes. However these revenues can be spent for any water related activity and therefore would be either committed or assigned in the water fund.
3.1.8.50 If the government’s highest level of authority (e.g., board of commissioners, city council, board of directors, board of supervisors, etc.) imposes specific restrictions on the use of resources through the most binding formal action (resolution or ordinance), the unspent portion at the year-end would be considered committed and may be reported as such.
A motion, plan or stated management intent regarding how resources will be used does not meet criteria for classifying balances as committed because the commitment has to occur at the highest level of authority through the most binding formal action. While commitments may be removed, it would take that same level of authority and level of formal action to do so. For example:
A cash balance in a capital project fund saved for future replacement of a building after verbal direction by city council members at a council meeting would not be classified as committed because the commitment was not established by the most binding formal action (resolution or ordinance).
3.1.8.60 Balances should be classified as committed when the government dedicates resources for a specific purpose, but not if only generic or functional limitations are imposed. For example:
A cash balance in a special revenue fund committed by commissioners for transportation purposes would not be classified as committed balance because the commitment “for transportation” is not specific enough to create limitations.
The limitation should be narrower than the governmental function or even activity. While resources designated for “public safety”, “park and recreation” or “public health” would not be considered committed; the designations for “new dispatch equipment”, “purchase of additional land to expand existing park”, or “cleaning the hazardous area XYZ” would be.
3.1.8.70 Budget documents approved by resolution or ordinance also do not meet criteria for classifying balances as committed because the budget only represents the government’s authorized spending during the period, rather than a constraint on remaining balances at year end. In other words, a budget deals with plans for anticipated revenues and expenditures – resources not yet collected and expenditures not yet incurred – whereas an internal commitment imposes a permanent constraint on currently existing financial resources.
3.1.8.80 The classification of cash and investments does not reflect any government-wide limitations preventing resources of one fund being spent for purposes of another fund. In other words, any constraints based solely on the purpose of the fund itself would not require classification as restricted. Such constraints imposed by RCW 43.09.210 are both generic and already evident from the fund title, classification and description in the notes. For example:
All revenues generated by water sales can only be spent on water related activities and cannot be transferred to general fund to be spent for other governmental purposes. Within the water fund, unspent proceeds of bonds issued for capital improvement are restricted to this particular project (a specific, externally imposed restriction). In this case, the cash and investments balance classification will include restricted cash and investment for unspent proceeds of bonds and the appropriate committed or assigned balances for everything else that can be spent for any water purposes.
3.1.8.90 Also, resources with external restrictions and internal commitments are classified in either restricted or committed regardless of what fund they are reported in. The external restriction, internal commitments, and subsequent classification of restricted and committed remain tied to the resources no matter which fund they are reported in and if the resources are transferred to other funds. For example:
Unspent hotel/motel tax would be classified as restricted regardless of whether it is accounted for in the general fund, a special revenue fund, or a capital project fund because it is subject to a specific external restriction. The hotel/motel tax resources remains restricted until the resources are fully spent.
If the legislative body passed a resolution or ordinance to set aside (commit) a certain amount of money (from resources that are not restricted or committed) to be used only for a specific tourism purpose, the unspent amount of these monies would be reported as committed no matter which fund the resources are held.
The unassigned classification in the general fund does not mean resources are not subject to any limitations whatsoever. It means that there are no specific external restrictions or internal commitments that constrain spending that money for any allowable use and purpose of the government.
Emergency funds, savings accounts, and rainy day funds
3.1.8.100 Sometimes a legislative body sets aside an amount of money for the purpose of paying expenditures when there is a budgetary shortfall. Since these resources would be available for any purpose or use if needed, they should be classified as unassigned in the general fund unless the resolution stipulates a way that represents an actual constraint. Even if the resolution or ordinance stipulates that the money cannot be spent for any other circumstance, this limitation does not constitute commitment. Purpose refers to the object of spending or usage, rather than circumstances. That is, purpose limitations establish what the cash and investment balance can be spent for, not the circumstances under which the resources can be spent. The same concept applies to emergencies. An emergency is not the purpose of spending but a circumstance when the spending occurs.
3.1.8.110 Sometimes a legislative body creates a “reserve” fund that is a managerial fund in nature through resolution or ordinance to set money aside for a different purpose. These managerial funds are generally rolled-up into the general fund for reporting purposes. Creation of a fund and designation of cash and investment balances are two different issues. Merely creating fund to hold money destined for a specific purpose does not automatically classify the entire cash and investment balance as committed or assigned. A managerial fund of a proprietary fund would be rolled-up into its primary operating proprietary fund and therefore is created out of at least assigned cash and investment balances and would continue to be reported as such. The reserve fund may contain resources from many different sources and not all of them may be restricted or committed for the fund objective. Again, the purpose of the fund is separate from the constraints and limitations imposed on all resources designated for such a purpose.
3.1.8.120 An adopted minimum cash and investment balance policy would not meet the criteria to classify ending balances as committed. Such a policy only represents a target amount that the local government believes should be maintained to provide a reasonable level of assurance in the day-to day operations, and not a specific constraint on the purpose or use of any resources. For financial reporting purposes, such a policy may be disclosed, but would not affect classification of ending balances.
3.1.8.130 The government may establish a policy for its intended order of use of classification balances when an expenditure is incurred in which restricted, committed, and assigned cash and investment balances can be used to pay the expenditure. In absence of an approved policy it is assumed that the government will use the most restricted cash and investment balance first.
Reporting a negative cash and investment classification balance
3.1.8.140 The classification of cash and investment balances as restricted and committed based on their respective allowable purposes will reduce the available ending cash and investment balances to be classified as assigned, and if in the general fund unassigned, in the fund in which the government is reporting. A government should not spend restricted or committed resources on any activity that does not support the requirement that led to the restricted or committed classification. Additionally, the government can only spend the available balance of restricted and committed resources that are on hand and in cash or investment deposits. Therefore reporting negative restricted or committed cash and investment balances is not allowed. The government must reduce assigned, and if in the general fund unassigned, cash and investment balances to account for payment of expenditures that would (or will) be paid from restricted or committed cash and investment balances that the government is expecting to receive as well as for expenditures paid by the available cash in the fund that were not attributed to the allowable purpose of the restricted or committed classifications.
The classifications of the available cash and investment balances to restricted and committed, as well as the evaluation of the use of available cash in the reported fund, could result in the reporting of a negative cash and investment unassigned balance, if the government has used restricted balances to pay expenses that were not related to the restricted or committed cash and investments that the government has received. The assignment of resources should not create a negative unassigned cash and investment balance, therefore a government should reduce the assigned cash and investment balance down to cover the negative unassigned cash and investment balance. The government is not allowed to report negative assigned cash and investment balances.
On the rare occasion that a government needs to report a negative cash and investment balance in any fund, that negative balance must be classified in the unassigned cash and investment category. This is the only time unassigned can be used outside of the general fund.
Reporting Requirements and Filing Instructions for Cities and Counties
4 Reporting
4.1 Reporting Principles and Requirements
4.1.5 Reporting Requirements and Filing Instructions for Cities and Counties
4.1.5.10 Pursuant to RCW 43.09.230, Annual Reports are to be certified and filed with the State Auditor’s Office (SAO) within 150 days after the close of each fiscal year.
4.1.5.20 The following matrix provides additional details regarding reporting requirements for governmental, proprietary and fiduciary funds.
X - Required to be prepared by cities and counties and submitted to the SAO N/A - Not applicable; not required to be prepared by cities and counties.
Footnotes [1] Cities were required to prepare the Schedule 06 beginning in reporting year 2019. Counties are required to prepare the Schedule 06 for reporting year 2020.
[2] Cities with total revenues usually less than $300,000 are also required to submit a Schedule 22 Questionnaire.
Caution
4.1.5.30 The SAO online filing system will automatically produce the C-4 and C-5 statements for the local governments. Note that local governments with total revenues of $2 million or less are not required to prepare financial statements unless debt covenants, a contract, a grantor or the district’s legislative body requires the district to prepare the financial statements or if the government is to receive a financial statement audit. If this request is made, the financial statement package containing the C-4 and C-5 statements and notes should be prepared. The $2 million threshold calculation excludes any proceeds from issuance of long-term debt and resources held by the government in its fiduciary capacity.
4.1.5.40 If more than $750,000 in federal funding was expended by the entity during the year and a federal single audit is required, the entity must prepare financial statements if it has expenditures of federal moneys from more than one program or cluster. However, an entity that normally does not prepare financial statements may not need to prepare them for the single audit if it has expenditures from only one program or cluster. Entities should consult with their local SAO team or the SAO HelpDesk if they have questions about this requirement.
4.1.5.50 Forms
The templates for Online Filing for Schedules 01, 06, 09, 15 and 16 are available on the BARS Reporting Templates page on the SAO website. When using the Online Filing option, the system will create the Schedule based on data provided by the city/county on these templates.
Blank forms for other schedules are provided on the BARS Reporting Templates page. The use of these particular forms is not required; however, information requested by the form is prescribed. Specific instructions accompanying each statement and schedule identify which, if any, details are optional.
4.1.5.60 Subsequent corrections
All subsequent discoveries of errors and omissions in the annual report – from the date of original submission up through the end of the audit applicable to that period – are requiredto be corrected by resubmitting the annual report. For any misstatements discovered during the audit, governments should ensure open communication with the audit team about the correction. Any misstatements discovered after the audit is completed that affect Schedule 01 should be recorded as a prior period adjustment. If misstatements discovered after completion of the audit are material, governments should immediately alert their audit team.
4.1.5.70 Filing instructions
Electronic reporting is strongly encouraged when filing annual reports. Annual reports should be submitted via the Online Filing option on the State Auditor’s website at: https://portal.sao.wa.gov/saoportal/. Acceptable file should adhere to the prescribed record layout and should be an Excel file. It should include column headings. All columns must be formatted as text except the Actual Amount column which is numeric. More details are provided on the website.
For questions and/or support e-mail the SAO HelpDesk through Online Services.
If the city or county cannot provide the annual report in the electronic format it should mail completed physical templates to:
Annual Report State Auditor’s Office Local Government Support Team P.O. Box 40031 Olympia, WA 98504-0031
4.1.5.80 Certification
Electronic reporting through the SAO website will require electronic certification of the annual report during the final steps of the submission process.
If the city or county cannot utilize the electronic reporting, prepare the certification form (provided on the BARS Reporting Templates page), including signature and date and include this form when mailing your report.
4.1.5.90 The following matrix describes required statements and schedules for cash basis cities and counties and the scope of each schedule.
Footnote [1] There should be only one general fund. Also, if the local government accounts for the debt and capital projects related to proprietary activities in funds other than proprietary, these activities should be incorporated in the appropriate proprietary fund. All interfund transactions between funds which are combined for reporting purposes should be eliminated to avoid double counting.
Annual Report Disclosure Form MCAG No. _______ (City/County)
(This form is not required if you are submitting the annual report electronically.)
Use the column which is appropriate for your government type. Please place a check mark or "Y" if the statements/schedules are attached. If financial statements and/or are not applicable, mark the spot "NA" (not applicable). An "NA" in your government type column will indicate that a schedule is not attached due to lack of activities described in the schedule in reported year. The blocked spot indicates the schedule is not required for that government type.
Footnotes [1] Only cities and counties with revenue of $2 million or more are required to prepare the notes to the financial statements. See Caution, above.
[2] See BARS Manual for detailed instructions indicating which cities are required to prepare this schedule.
[3] Only cities with revenue usually less than $300,000 are required to prepare this schedule.
512.52 New Code – This code is to be used when a municipal government contracts out their court services and should also be used by governments providing the court services to another municipality.
Added instructions and a new resource "Codes to Funds"
Added instructions for chart of accounts export. All codes from the Chart of Accounts as of November 30th are included in the resource with the allowable fund types indicated.
3.1.7.40 – Clarified how to account for non-cash transactions and receipting by a third party for the benefit of the government. 3.1.7.50 – Clarified which transactions can be reported in Permanent Funds.
3.4.7 Intergovernmental and Forgivable Loans – Moved accounting for forgivable loans out of the Schedule 09 instructions and added information on intergovernmental loans.
3.9.1.10 – Added when interfund loans could be used and requirements for interfund loans from the General Fund. 3.9.1.31 – Added information on negative fund balances and the accounting for those balances. 3.9.1.32 – Added information on when interfund payments become interfund loans.
3.10.5.60 – Changed capital leases to installment purchases 3.10.5.70 – Added leases to the obligations that do not constitute debt for debt limitation.
4.3.14 Added determinations for Flexible Savings (FSAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), both when a government controls the asset and when the government does not.
4.14.13 Removed information on forgivable loans. It was moved to the new Intergovernmental and Forgivable Loans section. Added Schedule 09 lease reporting ID#s.
344.71 (Transits, Railroads and Other Transportation Systems Services)
344.71 New Code - Include private vanpool charges, streetcar and monorail fares, disabled/aging transportation fees, etc. For cities/counties: this code is not reported on the road/street report to WSDOT.
369.70 (Pension/OPEB Contributions) Should only be used for contributions made to a pension/OPEB plan administered by the reporting government. Not for use in the fiduciary funds.
547.10 (Transits, Railroads and Other Transportation Systems Services)
547.10 New Code - This account should be used only if the local government operates its own, or with other governments, transit, railroad or other transportation system. These expenditures are related to public transportation. For cities/counties: this code is not reported on the road/street report to WSDOT.
Internal Service Funds - Added guidance on accounting for internal service funds providing services to fiduciary funds and the use of internal service funds at special purpose districts.
3.4.18.30, 3.4.18.45, 3.4.18.50 Added clarifications on reporting non-environmental asset retirement obligations and what can cause an asset retirement obligation
3.7.1 Changed title to Federal Awards to include all items that must be reported on the Expenditures of Federal Awards (Schedule 16). Updates, changes, and clarifications for reporting awards made throughout.
Added Footnote 2 for no activity governments reporting, no formal Schedule 22, but the government must attach bank statements and any meeting minutes for the fiscal year. 4.1.6.20 Clarified instances where special purpose districts do not need to prepare financial statements. 4.1.6.25 Updated the definition for no financial activity to include small automatic bank fees and SAO audit billings.
4.8.14.10 Added clarification that governments who file a no activity report will not be required to submit a formal Schedule 22, but will need to submit supporting documents.
Added Quick Links to specific guidance 4.14.5.70 Added additional information on COVID-19 Expenditures including donated personal protective equipment purchased with COVID-19 federal financial assistance, COVID 19 Vaccines - Immunization Cooperative Agreements CFDA #93.268, Provider Relief Fund (PRF) CFDA #93.498 4.14.5.155 Moved and retitled 4.14.5.230 to Preparing the preformatted SEFA template for upload to Online Filing 4.14.5.180 Added yellow flag caution under column 4 instructions. 4.14.5.230 Changed to example of finalized Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards.
348.00 (Internal Service Funds Sales and Services)
348.00 (Internal Service Funds Sales and Services) – Allowed only in internal service funds. Read more about the use of 348.00 and internal service funds in the audit connection blog, “BARS Code Spotlight”.
308 / 508 (beginning/ending cash and investment balance codes)
Cash Basis Cash and Investment Balance Codes – 308.21/508.21: Allowed only in permanent funds and private-purpose trust funds. 308.31/508.31: Allowed in all fund types. 308.41/508.41: Allowed in all fund types except fiduciary. 308.51/508.51: Allowed in all fund types except fiduciary. *308.91/508.91: Allowed in all fund types except fiduciary. *Only the general fund can report a positive unassigned balance.
3.6.8.10 Changed "Programs must be approved by the behavioral health organization and the secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services" to "…secretary of the Department of Health" to match RCW 71.24.555
3.7.1 Updated references to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars 3.7.1.20 Included other federal financial assistance guidance 3.7.1.30 Removed reference to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) 3.7.1.30 Added Identification of COVID-19 related awards requirements 3.7.1.41 Removed the Common Rule Administrative Requirements section 3.7.1.51 Removed the OMB Circular A-87 Cost Principals section
Updated section to remove references to reserved/unreserved and replaced with new cash and investment classifications 4.3.12.100 Updated the sample C-4 with new format
Section number updated to 4.14.13 (from 4.8.13). 4.14.13.100 Updated information on reporting pension (264.30) and OPEB liabilities (264.40) 4.14.13.110 Updated the due date instructions to list I.D. Numbers that do not require a due date to be reported.
3952000, Compensation for Loss/Impairment of Capital Assets
3952000, Compensation for Loss/Impairment of Capital Assets Added the following information: Insurance recoveries that are related to storm cleanup and are realized, or are measurable and available, in the same year as the related cleanup expenditures should be netted against those expenditures. Insurance recoveries that are related to cleanup and are recognized in subsequent periods should be reported as other financing sources or extraordinary items, as appropriate.
3132700, Affordable and Supportive Housing Sales and Use Tax
3132700, Affordable and Supportive Housing Sales and Use Tax A new BARS code 3132700 was assigned to code the sales and use tax authroized by the SHB 1406, Laws of 2019.
For BARS codes 5990000, Payments for Refunded Debt, these codes should be used for payments to an escrow agent for refunding debt payments and direct payments of refunded debt (e.g., BANs, refinancing or loans, etc.). Note this correlates to current refundings, advanced refundings utilize 5930000 codes.
Other Increases and Other Decreases in Fund Resources Added BARS Codes 3821000, Refundable Deposits, 3822000, Retainage Deposits, and 5821000, Refund of Deposits, 5822000, Refund of Retainage Deposits to be used for deposits that are not custodial activities. These codes are replacing 3891000, 5891000, 3892000, 5892000 which are no longer valid BARS codes.
3.1.3.10 Updated information about the "Green Book." 3.1.3.30 Added information that states the SAO is not part of the internal control functions of a government. 3.1.3.40 Updated the five components of internal controls. 3.1.3.90 Updated information about the different areas that should be reviewed for creating internal controls.
3.4.16.30 Included information about OPEB reporting requirements, the types of OPEB plans, links to the State Actuary tools used for liability calculations. OPEB liability reporting on the Schedule 09 required in 2019.
Removed "signed" in 3.6.620 b. which now says "A file must be maintained of those payers who have authorized to add moneys to your account electronically including the proceeds form third party vendors for credit card remittances."
Removed "signed" in 3.8.11.20 b. which now says "A file must be maintained of authorizations by payees who have therby agreed to have moneys added to their accounts electronically."
Added the fourth bullet in 3.8.11.30 which now says "Policies and procedures should be in place to validate these authorization to protect resources being transferred electronically."
4.8.5.40 Removed reference to the fact that the SEFA must be prepared on the same basis of accounting since Uniform Guidance does not require the SEFA. 4.8.5.50 Removed references to CFDA 10.665: Title I - Schools and Roads, Title II - Special Projects on Federal Land, Title III - County Projects in the Direct costs of expenditure transactions associated with grants, cost-reimbursement contracts, cooperative agreements, and direct appropriations. 4.8.5.128 Revised the requirements for Disbursements to Subrecipients to "expended" rather than "paid." 4.8.5.130 Updated the exceptions for EPA Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (CFDA 66.468) and Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CFDA 66.458). 4.8.5.230 Removed Note 8 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 from the SEFA Notes Template.
Created a new note to move the guidance for component units, joint ventures, and related parties. Note - this information was previously located in the "Other Disclosures" note template.
Removed information for related parties, component units or joint ventures. Added information about Pollution Remediation/Retirement of Certain Assets.
Schedule 06 is required for CASH basis cities and towns for FY2019. Optional for CASH basis counties for FY2019, required for FY2020 reporting. Schedule 06 template is available on the BARS Reporting templates page.
Schedule 09
264.40, OPEB Liabilities
Added 264.40 to the Schedule 09 codes for reporting OPEB liabilities.
Schedule 09
263.93, Environmental liabilities
Added 263.93 to the Schedule 09 codes for reporting Environmental liabilities (e.g. pollution remediation, certain asset retirement, etc.).
New account for revenues for Medicaid payments related to an implementation of the Transformation Plans. The addition was communicated on August 1, 2018 in BARS Alert.
The account was divided between internal and external legal services. Within each category were created more separate accounts for different specific legal expenditures. The change will allow governments to analyze and compare costs much more effectively. This also aligns accounting records with procedures auditors are required by professional standards to perform on legal liabilities, so it will help make the audit process more efficient. This change was already announced in 2016 and was not required for the FY 2017 reports; however, the new accounts will be required for 2018 reporting.
Object code 50 was removed and the definitions of object codes 30 and 40 adjusted to include the transactions which were previously reported using object 50. For other details see BARS Alert issued August 1, 2018.
The recent changes in governmental accounting regarding fiduciary activities are effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018; however we incorporated the required changes in this version of manual. The additional information will be available on our website under Fiduciary Funds in BARS manual.
Also, updated was the discussion of enterprise [400] funds. There are no new reporting requirements and the update expands the current prescription.
The entire section was revised to provide a comprehensive guidance for accounting of capital assets. The update also incorporates the changes to RCW 36.32.210 which removed the annual inventory requirement. This change was communicated on March 21, 2018 in BARS Alert.
This section provides a short overview of other postemployment benefits (OPEB). Starting with financial reports for a fiscal year 2018, all local governments are required to report liabilities related to OPEB, if applicable, in the notes to the financial statements. [This update provides also samples of disclosure regarding OPEB in the Reporting/Notes to Financial Statements section.]
New section was added regarding Equipment Rental and Revolving (ER&R) Fund. This guidance was previously available outside the BARS manual and it is now incorporated into the manual allowing an easy access.
Added a new section to provide a general overview of interfund transactions.
REPORTING
The recent changes in governmental accounting regarding fiduciary activities are effective for reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2018; however we incorporated the required changes in this version of manual. The additional information will be available on our website under Fiduciary Funds in BARS manual.
The following sections were updated 4.1.5.90, 4.1.6.80, 4.3.13 (also includes the change in the pension trust fund title), 4.8.2.50, 4.8.4.30, 4.8.13.50, Note X- Deposits and Investments – paragraph [7]. These changes involved only a title change from agency to custodial funds.
New note Fiduciary Activities was added to explain the change in counties’ reporting of 2017 money held for the special purpose districts. The affected counties were notified in an email dated May 29, 2018. The note is still required for the counties which will be reporting the special purpose districts for the firsttime in 2018. If they reported them in 2017, the note is not longer required.
A new reporting requirements regarding other than pension postemployment benefits (OPEB). Please see the Accounting/Liabilities/Other Postemployment Benefits section for more details.
The local government should prepare either the Schedule 07, Disbursement Activity and Schedule 11, Cash ActivityOR Schedule 06, Summary of Bank Reconciliation for 2018 annual report.
Clarified that the governments should be reporting both short- and long-term liabilities on the Schedule. Also added new ID. Numbers for registered warrants and lines of credits.
The local government should prepare either the Schedule 07, Disbursement Activity and Schedule 11, Cash ActivityOR Schedule 06, Summary of Bank Reconciliation for 2018 annual report.
Revision reflect the clarification for reporting federal grants provided by federal agencies.
Remove discussion regarding ARRA grants.
The example of reporting FEMA grants was updated.
Updated for changes related to reporting the following grants: EPA Drinking Water (CFDA 66.468), Clean Water (CFDA 66.458), USDA Interim Financing (CFDA10.760) and (CFDA 10.766).
Revised rules for reporting grants with missing CFDA numbers.
The Schedule was revised to provide relevant information needed in assessing and auditing governments’ risk management circumstances.
ONLINE FILING
Schedule 09
The Schedule 09, Schedule of Liabilities, includes a new validation check for net pension liabilities. Governments will receive a red flag if they have pension related liabilities but do not report them on the Schedule 09 or if they are using the incorrect ID No.
