Center for Government Innovation

Traditionally, local governments have had two options to pay their employees: by direct deposit or by paper check. But these options may not work well for everyone.

Not all employees have bank accounts, which makes direct deposit impossible. For these employees, cashing payroll checks can be difficult, inconvenient and costly. Checks are expensive for local governments, too, and they create additional work if employees lose them or don't cash them for extended periods of time.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) established the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (CSLFRF), assistance listing number of 21.027. CSLFRF provides $65.1 billion directly to counties and another $65.1 billion to cities and other municipalities. These funds represent a substantial infusion of resources to meet pandemic response needs and rebuild a stronger and more equitable economy as the country recovers.

Every year, we update the cash basis financial statement checklist so that you have the latest guidance as you prepare your government's annual report filing package. In addition to incorporating the most recent BARS changes, we also monitor audit results and make additional adjustments to help you check for common errors.

In the spring of 2020, SAO changed the way that cash-basis local governments were to report their cash and investment balances. Gone away were reserved and unreserved classifications and in their place came unassigned, assigned, committed, restricted, and nonspendable. This meant a new task was at hand—calculating the amount of total ending cash and investments that fits into these new classifications at the end of each fiscal year. This article helps you understand how a local government's accounting policies may dictate how to calculate these amounts.

This is the final article of our seven-part K&P leadership series. Missed the previous articles in the series? Read them all here.

With the new year comes new annual report filings. Our second quarterly update of the 2020 fiscal year financial data in the Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT) includes more governments so you can see where public money comes from and where it goes.

As we come to the end of 2021, we at SAO want to thank you for your commitment to accountability and transparency. We know it takes people like you, people who care and put in the effort, to make good government happen.

Do you remember the scene in the holiday classic “It's a Wonderful Life,” where George's Uncle Billy loses an $8,000 deposit and it nearly results in the ruin of the family's business? Absentminded Uncle Billy had somehow lost or misplaced the money on his way to the bank. In today's dollars, that deposit would be equivalent to about $96,000.

This is the sixth article of our seven-part K&P leadership series. Missed the previous article on encouraging the heart? Read it here.

Today marks the premiere of the Center for Government Innovation's limited series, “Fish Tank,” on SAO's Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages.