Resource Library - Payroll
Payroll represents the largest expenditure category for most governments. Use SAO’s guides, checklists and best practices to help you develop or improve your government’s policies and internal controls related to timekeeping, overtime, leave and other payroll fundamentals.
Guide: Segregation of duties
Segregation of duties, or separating conflicting duty assignments, can help you protect your government’s assets. This guide can help local governments understand how to separate job duties when it’s feasible. It covers all types of financial processes from cash receipting to payroll and banking. The guide also includes additional control options for small governments or small operations within larger governments.
Last updated: September 2019
Checklist: Segregation of duties
This customizable checklist can help governments analyze their own internal controls and identify risky areas in need of possible improvement.
Last updated: September 2019
Guide: Payroll
This guide offers tips and suggestions for updating payroll processes and internal controls. It includes a suite of short, one-to-two-page resources for government leaders, managers, supervisors and payroll clerks. It can be printed in sections and distributed to whomever is in charge of certain responsibilities.
Last updated: September 2021
Checklist: Payroll
This customizable checklist can help governments analyze their internal controls for payroll processes to identify areas in need of possible improvement.
Last updated: September 2021
Best Practices: ACH electronic payments
These best practices can help governments improve their ACH payment process policies and employee training, establish a verification process, and monitor for unauthorized payee account changes.
Last updated: August 2022