Greetings,
Late Wednesday, June 17, legislative leadership surprised us with a second extension of the annual financial report filing deadline.
The new filing deadline is July 1.
COVID-19 has challenged many governments to consider remote work strategies and how their work processes would need to change. Process improvement specialists have started gathering – virtually – to share their experiences and lessons learned during the pandemic. We are calling these sessions “Virtual Lean Coffee.”
From stickies to screens
It is critical to forecast your cash inflows, outflows, and balances into the near-term future to anticipate liquidity shortfalls and remain solvent. Annual budgets tell you your spending authority for a year, whereas a cash forecast will tell you whether you have sufficient cash in the future on a month to month (or even daily) basis.
Why do it?
Cash forecasts:
State Auditor Pat McCarthy notified Gov.
We've encouraged local governments to step up their documentation practices, and for good reasons. Sometimes documentation is required by law or by the Budgeting, Accounting, and Reporting System (BARS) manuals. In other situations, documentation is a best practice for conducting government business and can help you in so many ways. Preparing your documentation at the time the event or transaction occurs ensures you capture the most accurate and complete information – both for you and for auditors who often review decisions and actions that happened in the past.
Updated October 30, 2023
Criminals, suspected to be part of an international crime ring, have targeted the state's Employment Security Department and are filing fraudulent unemployment claims using the names and personal information of real people to steal public money.
Governments and private businesses across the state have seen a big increase in fraudulent claims, many even filed in the names of current employees.
Here are a few questions and answers regarding this fraud.
As your employees continue to telework, they might be handling, transferring and storing confidential data at home differently than they did at their usual work location. Ideally, you would have a policy in place and trained employees in this area. If you have taken those steps, that is a great start! However, given this period of change and transition, you'll still want to check in with staff to ensure confidential data is safeguarded.
Greetings,
As promised, I wanted to let you know as soon as possible that a limited extension of the annual financial report filing deadline has been approved by legislative leadership. The new filing deadline is June 17.
During this pandemic, many governments are feeling the pressure on their general fund and looking at cost cutting and other measures. Acting early can be very beneficial. We noticed some local governments during the Great Recession (2007-09) that seemed to fare better because they did just that. Another strategy we observed was the use of teams to flush out financial options and strategies, to take advantage of some creative but legally allowable solutions. Even if you have a small staff, you can potentially reach out to peers to work on this together.