The Audit Connection Blog
Auditor McCarthy: Financial reporting should be easy to read and understand
Since the original issuance of Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 34 in 1999, the Office of the Washington State Auditor has found the resulting financial statement presentations to be unnecessarily complex, less timely and more costly for state and local governments to prepare and have audited. ... CONTINUE READING
Audit focus for schools in fiscal year 2016
School districts have asked the State Auditor’s Office to let them know in advance the areas they can expect auditors to emphasize in upcoming audits. ... CONTINUE READING
Filing workshops scheduled across Washington
The State Auditor’s Office is excited to bring back the popular annual report filing workshops. These workshops are designed to help local governments file their annual financial reports, and to meet the statutory requirement of submitting the report within 150 days of the close of their fiscal year. ... CONTINUE READING
GASB reporting model re-examination project
The Government Accounting Standards Board issued an invitation to comment on January 4 about potential changes to reporting of government funds, which GASB Chair Dave Vaudt recently described in a short video. ... CONTINUE READING
School district alert for phishing email attack
During the week of January 9, 2017, malicious hackers conducted phishing attacks from multiple school district employees’ email accounts. ... CONTINUE READING
ACFR Summary
We issued our state CAFR summary report December 27, 2016. Each year, our Office audits the state of Washington’s financial statements and reports the results in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). This is a very long, complex document that contains vital information about our state’s financial condition. ... CONTINUE READING
Department of Retirement Systems contracts with CPA firm for GASB 68 audits
For the past three years we have worked with the Department of Retirement Systems (DRS) to perform the GASB 68 census data audits at state and local government employers. We have enjoyed working with all of our state and local government partners to complete this important work for our state. ... CONTINUE READING
GAAP and Cash Basis BARS manuals have been updated
The GAAP and Cash Basis BARS manuals have been updated and are available on our website at www.sao.wa.gov. ... CONTINUE READING
Performance audit findings on boards that conduct hearings on medical mistakes
Doctors sometimes make mistakes, and those mistakes can have life-or-death consequences for patients. Washington, like every other state, uses boards to license and regulate doctors and other healthcare providers, and can impose discipline on providers. The Washington State Auditor’s Office recently released a performance audit that looked at two of these boards. ... CONTINUE READING
The State Auditor's Office is partnering up to simplify your annual reporting requirements
The State Auditor’s Office and the Department of Transportation (WSDOT) have been working together supported by the County Road Administration Board and the Washington State Association of Counties to eliminate duplicate reporting. Currently, counties and cities in Washington State are required to submit an annual street report to WSDOT in June. ... CONTINUE READING