Hello, WFOA 2023! The State Auditor's Office is excited to be reconnecting with our partners in government accountability in the Lilac City (a.k.a. Spokane).
This op-ed by State Auditor Pat McCarthy first appeared in the July 30, 2023 edition of the Spokesman Review.
Fuel prices can be volatile. When they rise, governments will feel it in higher fleet-operation budgets, and employees will feel it in their wallets. And here at SAO, we will likely see more local government reports of known or suspected fuel-related losses and frauds.
The Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) was enacted to make the conduct of Washington’s governments more accessible and open to the public. The OPMA underwent significant changes in 2022 when the Legislature modified the law in response to how local governments had adapted and continued to hold their governing body meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Procurement and competitive bidding laws can be complicated, often varying based on government type, the nature of the procurement, and the estimated cost, and it can be difficult to wade through existing requirements or stay updated on new ones.
Local governments are fast becoming attractive targets for cyber criminals because of the vast amounts of sensitive data they maintain about their employees, infrastructure and residents. To keep pace with the constantly evolving threats and tactics, it's essential that you understand how to minimize your government's risk of attack.
Preparing your government's payroll takes a lot of time and expertise. From collecting employee information, tracking leave, processing timesheets, and calculating pay to processing garnishments, delivering pay checks, submitting tax forms, and preparing year-end reporting, there's a lot to do. That's why some governments use a third party to do all or part of their payroll. But how do you determine if outsourcing payroll is right for your government?
We at the State Auditor's Office extend our thanks to every local government that filed its fiscal year 2022 annual report on time! This year, about 87 percent of local governments met the annual filing deadline, proving once again that compliance, accountability and transparency matter in Washington state.
We've updated the infographic below to show which governments filed on time, which filed late, and which haven't filed yet. How does your county compare to the rest? The graphic still updates daily, so check back as often as you'd like.
This article was originally published in the special issue of the Digital Audit Connection for the 2023 Washington Association of School Business Officials conference. Read the full issue here.
When was the last time you looked at your finance team's vacation patterns? It may surprise you to learn that many frauds and other breaches of internal controls come to light only after employees go on vacation and other staff take over their tasks.