Local governments

Compensated absences calculations changed in fiscal year 2024 when the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) statement 101, Compensated Absences became effective. This guidance applies to GAAP basis governments, and we also carried it over to cash-basis governments to ensure compensated absences liabilities are calculated consistently across all governments, regardless of basis of accounting. Before this guidance, most governments only considered how much leave employees could cash out upon separation.

Government teams improve services every day, from permitting and inspections to internal support. The Plan-Do-Check-Adjust (PDCA) model gives teams a simple way to test ideas, learn from results and adjust before making a permanent change.

What’s changing and why it matters

The end of September marked the wrap-up of our 2024 calendar year single audits. This was also the deadline for local governments to submit financial statements and audit results to the federal audit clearinghouse because it was nine months after the fiscal year-end.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used more often in cyberattacks, including deepfakes, which are manipulated videos or audio that make it appear a person is saying or doing something they did not. These attacks pose growing risks for governments, businesses and individuals.

The Office of the Washington State Auditor has investigated many losses of public funds that governments could have detected sooner – if only someone had looked at their bank statements. Whether you are a finance professional, a department head, or even an elected or appointed official, regularly reviewing your monthly statements can greatly increase the odds of deterring and detecting fraud.

What’s new

The updated Contracting with Vendors to Accept or Process Your Payments guide includes new information on a topic many governments have questions about: peer-to-peer payment apps. These services may seem convenient, but they come with unique risks when used to collect public funds. The guide explains:

A pair of small towns in Eastern Washington lost tens of thousands of tax dollars to employees who spent the money shopping online and on other unallowable purposes, the Office of the Washington State Auditor has found. 

We first shared this advice in our Best practices for fueling government-owned vehicles resource. For more tips on how to improve your fueling system controls, check it out! 

If you manage a billing and collection system, then you have an important report to consider – the accounts receivable (A/R) aging report. As auditors, we regularly ask about your review of certain reports and when it comes to accounts receivable, we find a lot of value in this one. In this blog post, we’d like to explain why an A/R aging report is so important and why you should review it.