The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) releases new accounting standards nearly every year, and local governments have to evaluate and implement them. While each standard is different, the best practices for implementation are the same. That’s why we’ve updated our Best Practices for Implementing Accounting Standards to guide you through the process.
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While credit cards have many benefits, they also create an increased risk for misuse, mismanagement and fraud. That’s why SAO recommends periodically performing a credit card cleanup to keep your program running efficiently and securely.
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Fraudsters can impersonate your employees and vendors to redirect Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments meant for payroll direct deposits or vendor payments. You need to stay vigilant and ensure your government has strong internal controls. To help you, SAO has developed a new guide that offers advice on developing ACH payment process policies and employee training, establishing a verification process, and monitoring for unauthorized payee account changes.
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It’s that time of year when school districts begin preparing their financial statements. And, as we do every September, we updated our Checklist for Preparing and Reviewing School District Financial Statements to help you get ready. The 2021-2022 tool includes new questions on lease accounting, recording transactions as they occur, and non-routine events.
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SAO has a suite of resources that can help you evaluate your payroll process and explore ways to improve it. Our guides, checklists and articles provide valuable advice that you can use right away to ensure your internal controls are keeping your government safe.
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Fraudsters are constantly evolving their wire fraud schemes, which is why you need to ensure your government has strong internal controls in place to prevent them. To help you, SAO has developed a new resource: Best Practices for Sending Wire Transfers.
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When was the last time you took a hard look at your accounts payable process to ensure it’s still designed appropriately and functioning properly? Over the last year, SAO has published several resources and blog articles to help you improve your accounts payable system. We’ve collected them all here so that you can quickly access them.
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Navigating federal requirements and establishing controls in your government to ensure compliance can be challenging—even for governments that routinely receive significant amounts of federal dollars. That’s why over the past year we’ve updated some of our resources and published several articles on federal program requirements. With more local governments potentially needing Single Audits over the next few years, SAO’s blog articles and resources can help you address potential internal control weaknesses early to avoid audit issues.
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We know governments face challenges managing cash collections and striking just the right balance between internal controls and the costs of those controls. That’s why SAO has published a variety of resources to help you put the proper safeguards in place.
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Earthquakes and other natural disasters can be costly if your area is directly affected, and even more so if your government is unprepared. Your government may have an emergency response plan, but as financial managers, have you been included in some of those discussions? This article outlines steps governments can take to financially prepare for potentially large earthquakes and other disasters.
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