The Audit Connection Blog

Is your approval process as effective as you think? Here are some tips to improve it

How many approvals do you really need for financial transactions? It might be fewer than your process currently calls for. ... CONTINUE READING

Looking to push less paper? Consider electronic approvals

Processing documents such as vendor invoices and employee timesheets involves frequent approvals. It can be inefficient to pass around paper for these purposes, so electronic options are attractive to many. When it comes to electronic approvals for internal control purposes, here are five things you’ll want to keep in mind. ... CONTINUE READING

Single audit alert: Another change to federal single audit deadlines

OMB has significantly changed the single audit extension that it issued in March. Find out if this revision affects your government. ... CONTINUE READING

Want to go paperless? Here are some resources that can help

We know that moving to paperless processes has been a goal for some local governments. If you were on the fence, the pandemic might be prompting you to explore your options now. Here is some information we frequently share when asked about going paperless. ... CONTINUE READING

Trust is not an internal control; segregating duties is

Trusting your employees is important, but you should also be verifying they are doing their work properly because trust alone isn’t a sufficient control for preventing loss. One of the best ways to protect your government’s assets—and your employees—is to segregate duties. You have a lot to consider when developing your internal control system, so we’ve created a collection of guides, checklists and articles to help you. ... CONTINUE READING

What’s the scenario? Financial planning in uncertain times

Many of you are attempting to anticipate the length or depth of the financial impacts of the pandemic. This will be difficult to predict, which makes financial planning challenging. One important tool available to help you in these circumstances is scenario planning. ... CONTINUE READING

A Message from State Auditor Pat McCarthy: Financial accountability has never been more necessary

State Auditor Pat McCarthy talks about the importance of audits during this time of economic distress. ... CONTINUE READING

Newsletter gathers content for governments as Association of Washington Cities hosts conference

The latest issue of our newsletter looks at issues surrounding COVID-19, new resources for cities, fraud investigations and more. ... CONTINUE READING

New Resources for Cities Are Available, with More on the Way

The Center for Government Innovation, a service to local governments provided by the Washington State Auditor’s Office, has been working hard to bring some new resources to local governments, including cities. We’d like to tell you about a few new items, plus what’s on the near horizon to be published! ... CONTINUE READING

Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy will donate salary increase to The Other Bank Program

Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy announced Friday she will donate a scheduled salary increase to charity. ... CONTINUE READING