We've done your homework: WASBO 2025 resources for school districts are all here

The Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) is hosting its annual conference this week in Spokane and SAO representatives will be there in person, sharing the latest news on financial reporting and auditing issues specifically for schools and school districts. If you're looking for more information about the resources SAO referenced in our WASBO conference pamphlet, you're in the right place! During and after the conference, you can browse this webpage for articles and information designed to help school business officials throughout Washington state – including resources on relevant topics and guides to reference later. 

To stay up to date on all things auditing, like when we have our financial statement prep checklist available for the 2024-2025 school year, sign up for bi-weekly newsletter here.

Make FIT work for your district

We created FIT with one idea in mind: to make local government financial information easy to understand and interpret, even for those without a financial background. You can enjoy unique FIT profiles for all Washington school districts, including five years’ worth of revenues and expenditures, as well as financial health indicators and enrollment numbers. If you want to compare data from school districts statewide, FIT can gather all of that in one place.

SAO's handbook helps governments manage federal awards

Navigating federal requirements and creating internal controls to ensure you follow them can be challenging – even for governments like school districts that routinely receive significant amounts of federal dollars. Washington governments are spending historic amounts of federal money. But this increase in funding comes with a greater responsibility to use federal awards as intended and to follow the rules you agreed to when you accepted them. Our new resource, Essentials of managing federal awards: A compliance handbook, can help. It also covers key areas such as procurement, suspension and debarment, and equipment. This first-of-its-kind handbook, a companion to our regular federal awards training, should be at your fingertips.

Free resources and trainings can help stop fraud in its tracks

SAO’s Resource Library and Preventing Fraud webpage offer a variety of free guides, checklists, and best practices to help Washington’s governments improve their internal controls to prevent fraud. For example, reviewing the bank statements can greatly increase your odds of deterring and detecting fraud. Browse our trainings and resources, such as checklists and guidebooks, to help you fight fraud today.

Safeguard your ASB funds with strong internal controls

The money ASB groups raise are public funds – state law specifies that ASB funds are designated as public funds of the school district. Ensuring you have solid internal controls in place will go a long way to protecting these funds. SAO offers resources and an on-demand training to make sure your internal controls, such as cash handling procedures, are strong. Since fundraisers often involve lots of transactions for small dollar amounts being collected by students, they are a high-risk activity that call for strong controls and oversight. Ensuring you have strong cash handling procedures in place will go a long way to protecting these public funds. Read this article for key steps to take for every fundraiser.

Get a fast, free cyber checkup

SAO’s Center for Government Innovation can assess your district’s cyber health and provide actionable steps to improve your cybersecurity. The Center’s cyber checkups provide a fast, free and independent assessment of your government’s vulnerability to common threats, along with actionable steps you can take to improve your overall cyber health. A cyber checkup will help you:

• Understand cybersecurity safeguards and why they’re important
• Identify cybersecurity gaps and prioritize improvements
• Begin building a cybersecurity program if you don’t have one already
• Connect to free and low-cost resources to improve your cyber health

Contact the Center for Government Innovation to learn more about our cyber checkups, resources, and how we can help your local government improve its cyber defenses. Schedule your no-cost checkup today.

SAO staffing changes for Team Schools

Cheryl Thresher, longtime Team Schools Audit Manager, has retired. New key contacts:

For more help

Remember, SAO's Center for Government Resources is here to support you! Our Resource Library is packed with a variety of free guides, checklists, best practices and tools to assist Washington governments improve internal controls, grants management, procurement practices, financial reporting, and cybersecurity. If you have specific technical accounting questions, submit them using our HelpDesk in the client portal.