The State Auditor’s Office is responsible for examining the financial affairs of all local governments in the state. We conduct more than 2,000 audits of local governments each year. Using the results of those audits, our Office then evaluates the overall patterns and that were reported.
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Government auditing standards require our office to get a “peer review” every three years. For our 2016 peer review, a team of auditors from eight other states and a federal agency came to Olympia the week of September 12th to review our audit policies and manuals and a cross-section of audit reports and working papers.
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“Vishing” uses techniques that are essentially similar to phishing, the act of acquiring sensitive information via electronic communication while posing as a trusted entity. A vishing attack takes place over the telephone, using call spoofing, and tricks a user into disclosing personal information such as credit card numbers or a three digit security code.
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Credit and procurement cards are easy to use, convenient and efficient. As a result, government use of these cards has increased exponentially over the last decade. Unfortunately, there can be a dark side to using cards: they often bypass standard, established payment controls. The combination of high card usage and weak controls is an environment ripe for fraud.
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It’s hard to deny the benefits of an open and transparent government. The Public Records Act allows people to request things like video footage, emails, land development records — essentially almost every record that a government produces. The importance of access to government records can be seen in frequent examples across the nation, such as when the San Francisco Examiner discovered that police investigated rapes in upscale Berkeley far more readily than in the crime-blighted neighborhoods of Oakland by systematically examining local government records.
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(Audit report published Aug. 11) The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) oversees supported living agencies, which provide services to individuals with developmental disabilities. A house manager runs the daily operations of the supported living home such as purchasing food, completing payroll, and paying bills.
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On January 27, 2016, our Office published a follow-up to a report we issued last year on local government financial reporting. This year’s results show that our outreach efforts have contributed to a greater number of local governments filing their reports as required by law for fiscal year 2014.
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On January 27, 2016, our Office published a follow-up to a report we issued last year on local government financial reporting. This year’s results show that our outreach efforts have contributed to a greater number of local governments filing their reports as required by law for fiscal year 2014.
… CONTINUE READING →
