Best Practices Audit and Assurance Office of the State Comptroller

1. Best Practices Audit and Assurance Office of the State Comptroller

2. Best Practices • Review and Correct errors timely • Analytical review of accounting data for reasonableness • Common cash errors • Negative Cash Balances at Year End • Documentation

3. Review & Correct Errors Timely • At least monthly, preferably daily • Consult “Month-End” Checklists • http://smartweb.ks.gov/home/month-end-checklists/ • Review vouchers with build errors, match exceptions, and budget errors. • Review expense reports with budget errors. • Review unpaid vouchers and expense reports • Ensure all deposits are State Treasurer approved and released. • Correct any deposit posting errors. • Review pending interfunds. • Review transactions that have not been posted with the following queries: KS_AP_VOUCHERS_NOT_POSTED; KS_EX_RPT_NOT_POSTED; KS_GL_JRNLS_NOT_POSTED

4. Analytical review • Minimum Suggested Reports: • GL Trial Balance by Fund • GL Expenditures Report • KK Budget Status Report • Period over period comparisons • How do this month’s numbers compare to the prior month, prior year? • Is it what I would reasonably expect? If not, what happened and why? • Is there a logical explanation for any variances? Seasonal demands, workforce reductions, efficiency upgrades, etc. • Can you identify trends in your spending? • Budget vs. Actual • Are my revenues and expenses in line with projections? • Have I spent 75% of a budget line item and I’m only 25% through the year?

5. Common Cash Errors to Avoid • AP Journal Vouchers & Expense Report Journals • When correcting funding and adding lines to transfer the cash between funds, make sure that you haven’t increased or decreased cash (account 110100) overall. • When entering an interfund voucher, make sure to choose the correct origin of ‘I’ (Initiating) or ‘R’ (Receipting). Interfund vouchers without the proper origin can not be matched to the interfund deposit on the interfund page. • The only acceptable payment method for interfund vouchers is GE (Giro).

6. Common Cash Errors to Avoid • Regular “Non-interfund” vouchers may not use the GE (Giro) payment method. • Do not cancel interfund payments and/or close interfund vouchers after they have been posted, unless specifically instructed to do so by OSM to correct an error.

7. Negative Cash Balances • All non appropriated funds must have a positive Actuals Ledger cash balance before the close of the fiscal year. • There are a couple reports to monitor cash. • KGL00001-Cash Balance Report • KGL00005-Trial Balance by Fund

8. Documentation • For all correcting entries (AP Journal Vouchers, GL Journals, Deposit Adjustments, Expense Journals) • Use the available comment and description fields to communicate the audit trail • Include at a minimum: • Original document ID of transaction being corrected • Purpose of the correcting entry • Service Desk Request No., if applicable • Any other relevant information • Saves time and research for everyone