Local governments

Their experiences highlight Lean as a journey rather than a destination, all with the public good in mind

State laws require local governments to be audited by our Office and for them to submit annual financial reports, yet every year many governments do not meet these obligations. Failure to be audited and provide annual financial reports keeps the public in the dark about how public money is being used, and impairs the decision making of management and elected officials.

Today the Office of the Washington State Auditor released a pair of reports regarding King County Drainage District 5, including a fraud investigation.

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The State Auditor's Office (SAO) performs almost 200 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) reviews each year. Local governments may also submit their ACFR to the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. As part of their ACFR reviews, SAO and GFOA identified several common errors that could affect your government's ability to obtain this certificate.

Here are some common errors and pitfalls to be on the lookout for when preparing your ACFR:

The Center for Government Innovation has added two procurement-related resources to the Resources Database in recent months:

YAKIMA – The Office of the Washington State Auditor published two audits of the City of Wapato today, documenting significant violations of government standards.

By Toni Nelson and Steve Hawley,
Municipal Research and Services Center

A “bank sweep” is a process where you check with financial institutions to make sure no bank accounts exist for your organization that you aren't aware of.

In June 2017, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 87, a new accounting and reporting standard regarding leases.