Every educational service district in Washington has established a regional school safety center, conducted threat assessments, and offered trainings, resources and consultation to area schools, according to a performance audit released today.
The Office of the Washington State Auditor is excited to announce the addition of school district financial data to our Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT). Before we make this data available to the public, we are inviting school districts to preview their data and become familiar with how to use the tool.
This week, the Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) is hosting its annual conference. SAO representatives will be there in person, sharing the latest news on financial reporting and auditing issues.
As is our custom, we have created an Audit Connection newsletter designed just for schools and school districts. Those at the conference should stop by SAO's booth for a hard copy. We've also included it here as an interactive issue and downloadable PDF for easy digital reference. See the last page of the PDF for printing instructions.
Washington's governments encountered special audit circumstances this year when it came to preparing the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA). School districts were no different—and many of
you found yourselves facing a federal audit for the first time because the funding you received related
to the COVID-19 pandemic met or exceeded the federal government's threshold to require an audit.
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.
Recent audits of tribal schools have found that they keep records to support revenue and expenditures, and that they have quickly implemented audit recommendations.
Accounting and reporting guidance for leases and subscription-based information technology arrangements (SBITAs) are changing for school districts and charter schools. This is the case regardless of whether your method of accounting is cash or modified accrual.
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.
We're excited to see you in person at this year's annual WASBO conference. Since we last saw you—virtually in 2021—we've updated some of your favorite resources, like the school's financial statement review and preparation checklist, and made some changes to our piggybacking best practices guide. We've also launched new guides and checklists for payroll and accounts payable that you won't want to miss. And with the influx of federal money to school districts, we've created a new tool to help with your federal grant programs. Stop by our booth to learn more about these resources!
There has been interest in audits of three Washington charter schools released Thursday, March 2. To make it easier to find these reports as a group, we have collected them here:
This week, the Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) is hosting a virtual version of its annual conference, which makes this an opportune time to check in regarding financial reporting and auditing issues.
We have collected information that matters specifically to schools in an Audit Connection newsletter targeted specifically to schools and school districts and packaged it in this digital newsletter.