Spring is here and so is the annual report filing season. This year, we bring you a refreshed way to view filing progress across the state. Powered by SAO’s Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT), our new infographic updates daily as we approach the deadline.
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Local governments track many assets with multiple objectives in mind. Whether your objective is accurate and complete financial reporting or safeguarding public assets, tracking all of your government’s assets can quickly become a pain. SAO offers tools and resources to help you simplify asset tracking and comply with a variety of objectives and requirements.
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Cyberattack warnings can leave small local governments stressed and overwhelmed as they try to balance the need for increased cybersecurity and finding funds to pay for it. What you may not know is that help is available to your government at little to no cost, and you can get started today! We’ve identified three important steps you can take to defend your government against cybercrime.
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Spring has sprung, and it’s time to start cleaning up your financial records from years’ past! Why not tackle the messy buildup in your vendor master file? This database file containing information about your government’s vendors needs a periodic scrubbing. Cleaning your vendor master file will require a well-coordinated plan. It’s likely that the project could span several months. To get you started, we’ve compiled some easy steps to follow.
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Piggybacking is the ability to use another government’s bid award without going through your own competitive process. It can be complicated, which is why we have updated our guide—Piggybacking under Washington State Law—to address your most common questions and alert you to changes in our guidance. Don’t worry: It still includes a step-by-step approach to piggybacking, as well as an optional checklist for you to use!
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A longtime employee of the Office of the Washington State Auditor (SAO) has been appointed chair of a national board that advocates for the improvement of government accounting and financial reporting standards.
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Some of our audit findings are the result of someone forgetting an important step when preparing the financial statements. Using our checklists is a great way to ensure that you don’t miss a step when preparing your annual financial reports.
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This week, the Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) is hosting its annual conference. As is our custom, we have created an Audit Connection newsletter designed just for schools and school districts.
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Since the state Legislature approved House Bill 1660 in June 2020, school districts across Washington have been examining the law to understand what is required of them and how to manage their Associated Student Body (ASB) funds. Here’s a quick refresher about the law, who’s responsible for setting the criteria, and how SAO plans to audit this area.
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Accounting and reporting guidance for leases and subscription-based information technology arrangements (SBITAs) are changing for school districts and charter schools. Before this change, districts and charters used a somewhat subjective test to determine if a lease should be classified as “operating” or “capital.” Under the new guidance, all leases (with a few stated exceptions) are just leases, eliminating “operating” leases. The primary goal of the new accounting method is to increase comparability across governments; it also gives financial statement users better, more complete information by establishing a single model for lease accounting.
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Just like established public schools, charter and tribal schools are subject to public audit. In the 2020-21 school year, Washington’s charter and tribal schools served more than 5,600 students. SAO audits the public funding that each type of school receives. This article outlines how each type of school fares under public audit.
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