This week, the Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) is hosting its annual conference. As is our custom, we have created an Audit Connection newsletter designed just for schools and school districts.
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Since the state Legislature approved House Bill 1660 in June 2020, school districts across Washington have been examining the law to understand what is required of them and how to manage their Associated Student Body (ASB) funds. Here’s a quick refresher about the law, who’s responsible for setting the criteria, and how SAO plans to audit this area.
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Accounting and reporting guidance for leases and subscription-based information technology arrangements (SBITAs) are changing for school districts and charter schools. Before this change, districts and charters used a somewhat subjective test to determine if a lease should be classified as “operating” or “capital.” Under the new guidance, all leases (with a few stated exceptions) are just leases, eliminating “operating” leases. The primary goal of the new accounting method is to increase comparability across governments; it also gives financial statement users better, more complete information by establishing a single model for lease accounting.
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Just like established public schools, charter and tribal schools are subject to public audit. In the 2020-21 school year, Washington’s charter and tribal schools served more than 5,600 students. SAO audits the public funding that each type of school receives. This article outlines how each type of school fares under public audit.
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Washington’s governments encountered special audit circumstances this year when it came to preparing the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA). School districts were no different—and many of you found yourselves facing a federal audit for the first time because the funding you received related to the COVID-19 pandemic met or exceeded the federal government’s threshold to require an audit.
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We’re excited to see you in person at this year’s annual WASBO conference. Since we last saw you—virtually in 2021—we’ve updated some of your favorite resources, like the school’s financial statement review and preparation checklist, and made some changes to our piggybacking best practices guide. We’ve also launched new guides and checklists for payroll and accounts payable that you won’t want to miss. And with the influx of federal money to school districts, we’ve created a new tool to help with your federal grant programs. Stop by our booth to learn more about these resources!
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There has been interest in audits of three Washington charter schools released Thursday, March 2. To make it easier to find these reports as a group, we have collected them on one page.
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In this special edition of our Audit Connection newsletter, we offer a range of articles personalized to schools and school districts.
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Recent audits of tribal schools reflect that the schools keep records to support revenue and expenditures, and that the schools have quickly implemented audit recommendations. Recent audits of charter schools reflect that school personnel are still learning about Washington’s legal requirements.
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School districts have asked the State Auditor’s Office for as much clarity as we can provide on what we plan to audit each fiscal year. Like districts, SAO relies on the Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction for clear rules and guidance to provide the criteria for the audits.
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