Financial Management

“Piggybacking” refers to one local government making purchases from contracts awarded by another government or group of governments via an interlocal agreement or contract. Piggybacking is a convenient way to procure goods or services. However, our Office has seen an increasing number of local governments use this alternative method without completing the process properly. National purchasing cooperatives are becoming more widely used, and many of these are based in other states where the laws do not align with Washington law.

Accounting for capital assets is an area of difficulty for many governments. General purpose governments have been reporting infrastructure assets for more than a decade because of Governmental Accounting Standard's Board (GASB) Statement No. 34. This pronouncement required the reporting of many more assets than had been previously reported, including some with their own unique challenges such as roads.

(Repost from MRSC's blog. Original available here.)

By Toni Nelson, MRSC