Financial Management

A new indicator made just for schools

School district finances are tied to student enrollment in Washington state, making even modest shifts in student counts worth attention. Increases or decreases can have direct and sometimes immediate impacts on a district’s financial position. To help make that connection, we’ve added the Change in Enrollment financial health indicator to FIT, joining the other important indicators already present in the tool.

Because our Office has fielded questions from local governments about the sometimes-confusing fiscal relationship between Washington counties and the special purpose districts (SPDs) they serve (like fire districts and public hospital districts), we researched the topic to clarify the relevant statutory requirements. You can find the Requirements of countie

As we close out this year’s annual report filing campaign, we want to thank the many local governments that submitted their reports and helped make this reporting season a success.

Washington governments take good stewardship seriously. A key part of this stewardship is understanding when and how governments must report suspected losses, including the personal use of government credit cards.

There is much to think about when employees leave your employment, including hiring and training the new employee and divvying up duties in the meantime. Human resources might refer to this as “offboarding.” You might have someone complete a checklist to ensure departing employees return items like ID badges, building keys, cell phones or computers.

Below is more information about each of SAO's updated procurement resources, and the improvements made.

Buying and Bidding Guide

This guide sets out the basics of purchasing and bidding to help you comply with state law, no matter your government type, size or complexity. This update includes several changes to improve clarity and ensure compliance. In this update, we’ve:

If there is one accounting task you should not skip, it is completing your bank account reconciliation. When you perform this important task, you ensure bank transactions match those in your accounting records. This critical step can identify fraud, flag bank errors and highlight mistakes; ultimately leading to more accurate accounting records and financial information.

About the Guide

Segregation of duties, or separating conflicting duty assignments in your government, can help protect your local government's assets. But which duties do you segregate, and what are your options if you cannot feasibly do this? What if you are a very small entity with limited resources?

A new year has begun, which means it's time for cash-basis governments to close out last year and begin preparing annual financial reports. Annual reports for local governments with fiscal year ending 12/31 are due to the Office of the Washington State Auditor by May 30, 2026.

The Office of the Washington State Auditor is pleased to announce an additional year of school district data in FIT: SAO’s financial transparency tool. FIT provides easy and free access to the financial data of more than 2,200 local governments in our state.

Read on for more information on the latest addition of school district data.