Accounting Procedures Handbook

8 FINANCIAL REPORTING AND CONTROL I. OVERVIEW All centralized financial accounting and reporting related functions and processes for the WCBOE are housed in the Business Support Services Department. The Accounting Manager and Budget Manager are the primary individuals in-charge of the day to day central financial accounting and reporting function within the Business Support Services Department. The Comptroller provides oversight to the central financial accounting and reporting functions on an ongoing basis. II. CONTROL OBJECTIVES • To effectively support the preparation of the Comprehensive Master Plan annual updates. • To ensure timely, accurate and complete financial accounting and reporting in accordance with Governmental Accounting and Financial Reporting Standards and MSDE Financial Reporting Requirements. • To support internal decision making and reporting requirements. III. PROCEDURES A. Fund Balancing The Accounting Manager runs the Summary Annual Report from the financial accounting system to check whether all funds are in balance as part of the annual preparation for the financial statement audit. If the funds are not in balance, the Accounting Manager must research the differences and prepare appropriate correcting/ adjusting entries to rectify the out of balance condition. B. Reconciliation of Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) to the Financial Accounting System Upon completion of the CAFR and after review with the external audit firm, the Accounting Manager compares the CAFR with each fund trial balance to ensure agreement. If there are any differences in this reconcilement process, the Accounting Manager will follow up with the external auditors to resolve such discrepancies. If correcting/ adjusting entries are required in the financial accounting system, they will be posted by the Accounting Manager. All reconciliation entries will be approved by the Comptroller. C. Audit and Closing Entries At year-end the Accounting Manager runs a year-end balance report from the financial accounting system. Upon reviewing this report, the Accounting Manager is responsible for ensuring that the closing entries for the current expense, special revenue, print shop, MIS, Instructional Resource Center, food service, trust and agency, and school activities funds have been completed. The Comptroller is responsible for ensuring that the closing entries for school construction and fixed assets funds have been completed. Once the above procedures are completed, the Accounting Manager will rerun the Summary Annual Report from the financial accounting system to review entries for accuracy. The Comptroller reviews and approves these entries. D. Annual Financial Reports After completing the above procedures, the Accounting Manager will run the Annual Report from the financial accounting system. Utilizing the Annual Report financial details, the Accounting Manager oversees the entry of applicable data to the MSDE website. The Accounting Manager reviews the resulting report and checks it for accuracy to the financial