Updated BARS Manuals now available on SAO’s website
January 4, 2023The State Auditor’s Office has finished updating the GAAP and Cash Basis BARS Manuals.
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BARS Manual updates starting Dec. 12
November 28, 2022The State Auditor’s Office will start the annual process of updating the BARS Manuals (GAAP and Cash) on Monday, Dec. 12, 2022.
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BARS coding for revenue received from state opioid lawsuit
October 13, 2022Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Oct. 3 that 125 local governments in Washington will receive $215 million under a resolution with three companies found responsible for fueling the opioid epidemic.
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Food for thought: Financial data accuracy and your annual report
April 13, 2022You’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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How to avoid surprises during your audit of cash and investments
March 16, 2022It’s not uncommon for a government to have multiple bank or investment accounts with different staff or departments reconciling them. That’s okay, but keep in mind there can be risks when different people are involved with reconciling several accounts.
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Spending policy and your new cash-basis fund balance classifications
January 13, 2022In 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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Updated BARS Manuals now available on SAO’s website
December 21, 2021The “Overview of Changes” section contains 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 2021 annual reporting.
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BARS Manuals updates starting Dec. 13
November 29, 2021The 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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Spring 2021 newsletter now available
April 2, 2021We curated this latest issue of our regular newsletter to make it easy to find key information from this blog, all in one place! Please download or share with colleagues who might find it valuable.
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GAAP and Cash BARS Updates are Done!
December 22, 2020The 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.
… CONTINUE READING →