Announcements

OLYMPIA – This week the Office of the Washington State Auditor will begin notifying people whose unemployment benefits claims information may have been affected by a security breach of the Accellion file transfer service.

The notifications will be sent by e-mail during the next two weeks to people who filed an unemployment insurance claim in 2020. The e-mail will contain information about identity theft protection and an individual code for 12 months of free credit monitoring and instructions on how to enroll and request assistance.

The information on this page was last updated: 03/12/2021 5:05 PM

The process is under way to notify people whose unemployment benefits claims information may have been affected by a data security breach of the Accellion file transfer service.

A security incident involving a third-party provider of hosted software services, which was used by the Office of the Washington State Auditor, might have exposed sensitive data belonging to Washingtonians.

This data includes personal information from about 1.6 million unemployment claims made in 2020, as well as other information from some state agencies and local governments.

Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy has been appointed to the executive committee of the National State Auditors Association. The nonpartisan group represents state auditors' interests in financial management and provides training and resources to professionals in the field.

“It's an honor to serve with my colleagues across the nation as we work to provide all Americans the government transparency and accountability they expect,” said McCarthy.

Today, the Office of the Washington State Auditor issued reports declaring three small local governments unauditable, bringing the total of such reports to seven for 2020. The State Auditor's Office (SAO) also notified local counties of these unauditable governments, a step toward halting their use of tax money, restricting payments for expenditures, and their possible dissolution under a new state law.

Updated: March 26, 2021, most recently updated: August 4, 2021

Over time, there have been a number of changes to the guidance for single audit due dates and information to be reported on the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA).

2020 has been a year unlike any other. However, we at the Office of the Washington State Auditor still have a responsibility to report on what we've done this year.

We invite you to click through our interactive 2020 annual report below. Learn about the amount and kinds of audits and investigations we have done, including some high profile cases, as well as some of what we have planned for 2021. Look at an overview of our budget and funding. And discover what other work our Office performs as we strive to increase government transparency and accountability.

The GAAP and Cash Basis BARS Manuals have been updated!

OLYMPIA – An audit released today provides the first, high-level accounting of some of the circumstances surrounding the major fraud scheme that targeted Washington state's unemployment benefits in the spring.

As part of its annual audit of the state's financial statements, the Office of the Washington State Auditor found that the Employment Security Department (ESD) did not have adequate internal controls to prevent the fraud. The Department also reported inaccurate fraud and recovery numbers for the state's financial statements.

You might see some red flags on the Schedule 01 that you haven't seen before. In previous years, you might have received a yellow flag with the error message: “This BARS account may not be allowable in this fund type.” Starting in 2021 (reporting year 2020), we have changed this yellow flag to a red flag. To help local governments with this new error message, we have compiled a list of all BARS accounts that will be affected and their applicable fund types. Red flags must be corrected before submitting your annual report.