OSA Weekly Update - 2/16/2024
1. Message from Auditor Blaha
2. Deadline: Fire State Aid Reporting
3. Avoiding Pitfall: General Ledger Journal Entries
4. Upcoming Deadlines
1. Message from Auditor Blaha
When is a good time to connect? We at the OSA are preparing our annual State of Main Street listening sessions, where we share our local government budget data and ask what it means to you. Since listening sessions don’t work without people to listen to, we’d like to know good times for people like you to participate. In this form, we have a three question, two minute, multiple choice survey (with two optional open ended questions) to give us your preferred days of the week and times to meet. Thank you for your input!
2. Deadline: Fire State Aid Reporting
Form FA-1 must be submitted to the Minnesota Department of Revenue (DOR) by March 15, 2024, to avoid a reduction in fire state aid. The form is signed by the municipal clerk, and can be found on the DOR website. Contact information for DOR staff and a list of forms received by the DOR are also posted on that site.
A local government employee who makes journal entries on an entity’s accounting system is able to change the entity’s most basic financial records. To prevent abuse, the number of employees allowed to make journal entries should be limited. Public entities should periodically review who can make journal entries and determine if those employees need access to this function.
Entities should also maintain supporting documentation for each journal entry. The supporting documentation should explain who made the journal entry and why.
Journal entries should be reviewed and approved by someone other than the person making the entries. One way to accomplish this approval process is to provide the reviewer with a report of all journal entries made during the prior week or month. When the reviewer understands the journal entries and their purpose, consulting the supporting documentation where necessary, the reviewer should sign the report to show approval of the entries.
The full Avoiding Pitfall is available on the OSA website.
4. Upcoming Deadlines
2023 Annual Forfeiture Expenditures Report by February 28, 2024
Law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities, please remember to report expenditure of forfeited property proceeds, including proceeds received through state and federal forfeiture law to the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) by February 28, 2024.
Instructions for the Forfeiture Expenditures form may be found on the OSA website.
Reporting must be done using the online reporting tool available in SAFES.
If you have not used SAFES in the past and need a username and password, please send your contact information including name, title, entity mailing address, and phone number to SAFES@osa.state.mn.us.
If you have questions or need assistance completing the form, please contact Christy John at 651-297-3681 or Christy.John@osa.state.mn.us.