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.
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.
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.
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!