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The Audit Connection Blog

Results for: BARS


Food for thought: Financial data accuracy and your annual report

April 13, 2022

You’ve heard the old adage that good food comes from quality ingredients. The same could be said about your government’s annual report: it’s only as good as the data that goes into it. As you prepare to file your annual report this year, remember that there are many consumers of your financial data and its accuracy is important.

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Spending policy and your new cash-basis fund balance classifications

January 13, 2022

In the spring of 2020, SAO changed the way that cash-basis local governments were to report their cash and investment balances. Gone away were reserved and unreserved classifications and in their place came unassigned, assigned, committed, restricted, and unspendable. This meant a new task was at hand—calculating the amount of total ending cash and investments that fits into these new classifications at the end of each fiscal year. This article helps you understand how a local government’s accounting policies may dictate how to calculate these amounts.

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BARS Manuals updates starting Dec. 13

November 29, 2021

The State Auditor’s Office will start the annual process of updating the BARS Manuals (GAAP and Cash) on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021. During the updates, sections of both online BARS Manuals will be unavailable for your use. Once updated, they will be fully available for accounting and reporting guidance related to fiscal year 2021 and forward.

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GAAP and Cash BARS Updates are Done!

December 22, 2020

The Overview of Changes contains detailed descriptions of the changes and links to the appropriate sections of the Manuals. Please refer to the Alerts and Changes tab for determining which revisions might affect your 2020 annual reporting.

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