The Audit Connection Blog
Quick tips on how to monitor your collection agency
It’s fairly common for local governments to use a collection agency in some capacity, such as to collect outstanding fees or fines, but how do you know if they’re doing a good job? Our latest blog post includes quick tips for local governments to help monitor their agency and evaluate its performance. ... CONTINUE READING
A special-edition SAO newsletter just for schools and school districts
As part of our participation in the 2024 Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) annual conference in Tacoma, we’ve put together a special-edition Audit Connection newsletter filled with the latest news on financial reporting and auditing issues specifically for schools and school districts including tools and resources to help improve internal controls, deter and detect fraud, shore up cybersecurity, and more. ... CONTINUE READING
A syllabus of top SAO resources and articles for school districts
Whether you're a new school official looking to learn all you can, or a seasoned veteran just interested in a refresher or two, chances are we have some resources you can use. We've put together a list of linked articles, tools and checklists that have proven quite useful over the years. ... CONTINUE READING
Take charge of your credit card program. Implement our updated best practices today!
The State Auditor's Office has updated its Best Practices for Credit Card Programs resource. We’ve added more best practices to our resource, about 14 in total, to help local governments better manage the risk that comes with having a credit card program. ... CONTINUE READING
Cyber checkups: Common results from the first year of reviews
One year ago, the Center for Government Innovation at the State Auditor's Office introduced a new service for local governments: cyber checkups. This blog post discusses the most common successes and issues we see, as well as how this program can help local governments in Washington. ... CONTINUE READING
New report finds areas of concern with police use of civil asset forfeiture in Washington
The State Auditor's Office has published a performance audit that described how civil asset forfeiture works in Washington, based on an analysis of data and practices at eight law enforcement agencies. The audit found that while the agencies we audited followed state law, they could do more to ensure people receive notice of the police’s intent to forfeit their property and understand how to reclaim it. ... CONTINUE READING
Local compliance with GMA permit timelines varies widely, audit finds
The State Auditor's Office has released a performance audit that looked at six local governments in high-growth areas of the state to determine if they were properly complying with the Growth Management Act's 120-day rule to make decisions on development plans. While we found most were, some of the governments struggled with processing land use and civil permits in time. ... CONTINUE READING
Are your IT policies strong enough? Chances are, probably not
IT policies are the foundation of key cybersecurity controls. This SAO blog post discusses the top seven IT policies that your government should have in place. ... CONTINUE READING
Learn what it's like to work at SAO during one of our virtual Spring Fair recruiting events April 9 or 10
During this spring’s recruitment events, attendees will learn about SAO and the skills it takes to be an auditor at our Office. They will also have the opportunity to network with auditors and recruiters, learn what makes a candidate a great fit for SAO, and get a taste of what we do for #GoodGovernment. ... CONTINUE READING
Better data, documentation needed to ensure consistency in public land lease rates for docks, shellfish farming and more
The State Auditor's Office has released a performance audit of how the Department of Natural Resources sets aquatic land lease rates for two lease types favored in state law. The audit found DNR’s processes supported consistency in rate-setting for water-dependent uses, but that it lacked documentation to reliably demonstrate it followed consistent procedures in other leases. ... CONTINUE READING