The Audit Connection Blog
A message from State Auditor Pat McCarthy: How ‘stay home, stay healthy’ affects SAO
While we continue to analyze the details and impact of his proclamation, the operations of the State Auditor’s Office are largely unaffected by the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order. Here is what we already have been doing to support our state’s efforts to slow the rate of coronavirus infection. ... CONTINUE READING
A message from State Auditor Pat McCarthy regarding COVID-19
As all of Washington responds to the threat of COVID-19, I wanted to reach out to our partners in good government and let you know some steps the State Auditor’s Office is taking related to our audits of state agencies and local governments. ... CONTINUE READING
Annual BARS updates are live
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.” ... CONTINUE READING
Our updated financial statement checklists have arrived
Do you use a checklist to prepare or review your financial statements? If not, maybe you should! We have updated our financial statement checklists for local governments. ... CONTINUE READING
Pierce County public fraud investigation leads to indictment
In December, we published the results of Washington’s largest public fraud investigation on record. This week, the person we identified as having misappropriated $6.9 million from a local government was indicted on federal charges. ... CONTINUE READING
Ransomware goes nuclear
Make no mistake about it, organizations are fighting a war against ransomware. As in any war, it helps to know when your adversary’s strategy changes in a major way. And that is exactly what has been happening in the past few months, according to Roger A. Grimes, a cybersecurity expert with KnowBe4, a cybersecurity training company. ... CONTINUE READING
Change Management Lesson 6: Reinforcement helps new habits stick
The biggest challenge to sustaining change arguably isn’t employee resistance – it’s habit. Truly resistant employees are rare, but every human being is subject to the power of habit. We can all benefit from some help to avoid falling back into old habits and sustain the initial momentum and excitement of the improved way of getting the work done. ... CONTINUE READING
Change Management Lesson 5: Moving from competence to mastery
Employees who have knowledge about a new process aren’t automatically proficient at achieving the desired results. Even with the best of intention and motivation, if I just depend on my individual knowledge and desire, I might never attain the needed ability level to make a new or changing process successful. So how do we incorporate a new skill into our ability? ... CONTINUE READING
Start the year off right – new best practices and tools for bank reconciliations!
The monthly reconciliation is an essential control activity to government finance. Although we cannot prescribe a uniform way to perform your reconciliation, we have developed a list of best practices to consider and compare to your own government’s current processes. ... CONTINUE READING
Summary infographic of Washington's 2019 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report
Each year, as required by law, the state publishes its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) to provide information on the state’s financial position. To make this important information accessible to the broadest possible audience, the State Auditor’s Office prepares this CAFR summary to provide a snapshot of the state’s financial position, including revenues and expenditures, cash balances and debt. ... CONTINUE READING