Local governments

We've encouraged local governments to step up their documentation practices, and for good reasons. Sometimes documentation is required by law or by the Budgeting, Accounting, and Reporting System (BARS) manuals. In other situations, documentation is a best practice for conducting government business and can help you in so many ways. Preparing your documentation at the time the event or transaction occurs ensures you capture the most accurate and complete information – both for you and for auditors who often review decisions and actions that happened in the past.

Greetings,

As promised, I wanted to let you know as soon as possible that a limited extension of the annual financial report filing deadline has been approved by legislative leadership. The new filing deadline is June 17.

At least initially, the general fund typically bears all general operating costs, such as for information technology, human resources, accounting, and facilities maintenance. But some local governments develop a plan to share these overhead costs with other funds that jointly benefit from the services provided. A cost allocation plan is optional and requires some work to set up and carry out, but it can take some pressure off of the general fund. This blog post will share some helpful tips and resources should you decide to go that route.

As a supervisor or manager, you play a key role in reducing the stress of your team members in times of disruption. Here are five things you can do to help your employees through an unexpected change such as teleworking during the coronavirus pandemic.

Self-care first

The coronavirus pandemic likely is forcing you to change how you do your work, such as processing payroll or paying your bills. For example, you might have fewer staff members working to do the same tasks. Teleworking adds another component, often requiring a change to how you process and approve transactions. We understand that local governments need to get the work done, but we'd like to share a few important things.

Changes can create risk

The coronavirus pandemic has created many novel situations across Washington and the world — social distancing, disruptions to the school schedule, and the temporary closure of many businesses. Governor Inslee's “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order allows for those occupations that can be conducted via telework to continue, which includes many state and local government workers.

Local governments are navigating many new areas while managing operations in response to coronavirus. Here is some information and links to resources. Thanks go to the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) for its timely guidance provided in several important areas of this guidance.

Guidance from SAO on accounting-related matters

The Budgeting, Accounting and Reporting System (BARS) Manuals for GAAP and cash basis governments have been updated and are available on our website at www.sao.wa.gov/, under “BARS & Annual Filing.”

Do you use a checklist to prepare or review your financial statements? If not, maybe you should! Checklists are a great way to make sure you remember important steps.

Nothing is more synonymous with accounting and finance than the monthly reconciliation. Recall even your most basic memory of “finance,” and the importance of balancing your personal checkbook. This essential control activity to government finance not only ensures that banking and accounting records are accurate, but is also a component of identifying unusual transactions that might result from fraud.