CHAPTER 1

AUTHORITY, SCOPE, DEFINITIONS

(FINANCIAL REPORTS FOR ALL PUBLIC FUNDS)

 

Section 1. Authority. The Director of the Department of Audit is required by law to supervise the books, financial accounts, and financial records of all state agencies and institutions, counties, school districts, municipalities, and special districts in Wyoming. The Director must require correction of faulty or erroneous systems of accounting, and provide instruction in proper accounting procedures to county and municipal officers. The Director may require reports of books and accounts, and may perform audits or specified procedures when necessary. The Director is responsible for ensuring compliance with audit requirements imposed by the Uniform Municipal Fiscal Procedures Act. These rules implement procedures necessary to permit the Director to fulfill statutory obligations, including the determination of financial reports to be filed, when audits and specified procedures shall be required, and to establish the format for additional reporting by local governments.  [Wyoming Statutes 9-1-507, 16-4-122, 16-4-123]

 

Section 2. Scope. These rules establish a system of reporting financial activities and accounting procedures to enable the Director of the Department of Audit to ensure that public funds are being uniformly and properly accounted for, that accounting systems are adequate, and that erroneous or faulty accounting systems are properly corrected. To the extent possible, reports made by the reporting entities for other purposes will be utilized to avoid duplication of effort. This Chapter will apply to all public entities described in W.S. 9-1-507 (a)(i) and (iii) unless exempted for good cause by the Director and to those public entities described in W.S. 9-1-507 (a)(iii), (vii), and (viii). 

 

Section 3. Purpose. Accurate and uniform reporting of financial information is necessary to determine the level of supervisory oversight necessary for local governments. The Department is required to provide financial information to the legislature and to other state, federal, and private agencies, regarding the cost of operating and maintaining state and local government, special districts, and specific government programs. The reports and reporting methods required by these rules are to ensure uniformity and accuracy in reporting revenues, expenditures, and financial activities by the reporting entities in order for the Department to fulfill its supervisory and audit responsibilities.

 

Section 4. Definitions.  As used in the Department of Audit, Public Funds rules:

 

(a) "AICPA" means the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants;

 

(b) "Annual Report Summary" means the checklist on the Department of Audit, Public Funds website which requires certification by two authorized representatives of the entity. The checklist shall contain a certification statement. The authorized representatives shall verify under oath the information contained in the report, as well as the census report are a true, accurate, and complete presentation of the financial activities of the reporting entity. All entities required to submit a census report form to the Department are required to certify their submission with the annual report summary;

 

(c) "Audit" means an examination performed under the requirements of state statutes, Government Auditing Standards, or standards established by the AICPA;

 

(d) "Bank reconciliation" means a specified procedure to determine if all cash assets shown on the financial records reconcile and agree with the amounts reported by the financial institutions holding such assets;

 

(e) "CPA" means a certified public accountant licensed or authorized to practice in the state of Wyoming;

 

(f) "Department" means the state Department of Audit;

 

(g) "Director" means the Director of the state Department of Audit;

 

(h) "Electronic Budget Form" means the form and instructions used to complete reporting as required by W.S. 9-1-507(a)(viii). The electronic budget form is available on the Department of Audit, Public Funds website;

 

(i) "Entity," unless expressly limited in these rules, means and includes any state agency or institution, municipality, incorporated city or town having a population of four thousand (4,000) inhabitants or less, special purpose district, joint powers board or any public administrative body receiving funds from any municipality;

 

(j) "Fiscal year" means the period beginning July 1 and ending June 30;

 

(k) "Government auditing standards" means the most current standards published by the Comptroller General, United States Government Accountability Office;

 

(l) "Independent auditor" means a CPA who follows the government auditing standards;

 

(m) "Independent third party" means a person having a basic understanding of the purpose of the reporting entity and the nature of its business, with sufficient knowledge of bookkeeping or accounting to understand the financial transactions of the entity, but who does not have authority to issue or sign checks or warrants of the entity;

 

(n) "Internal control evaluation" means and includes:

 

(i) A documented analysis of the procedures established by the reporting entity to assure that financial transactions are properly recorded;

 

(ii) Tests of the system sufficient to determine whether the system, and compliance with its procedures, provides reasonable assurance that the entity's assets are safeguarded and that liabilities are accounted for; to test that public funds are used in accordance with laws, regulations and policies, and that resources are safeguarded against waste, loss or misuse; and that reliable data are obtained, maintained and fairly disclosed in reports, contracts, grant agreements, in internal control;

 

(iii) A written report of deficiencies in internal controls that are significant in context to the objectives of the audit;

 

(iv) For the internal control self-evaluation of those entities not required to have an independent audit or review, the Internal Control Evaluation Worksheet as provided by the Department and updated on an annual basis, may be used to fulfill this requirement.

 

(o) "Local Government" means cities and towns, counties, school districts, joint powers boards, public entities, community college districts, special districts and their governing bodies, all political subdivisions of the state, and their agencies, instrumentalities and institutions;

 

(p) "Municipality" has the same meaning as defined in W.S. 16-4-102 (a)(xiv);

 

(q) "Officer" or "Official" means the chief administrative officer of a state institution or state agency, an elected or appointed member of a public board or commission, or the city manager or the mayor or a council member of an incorporated city or town, or the treasurer of the special district or chairman of the official board.

 

(r) "Oversight" means and includes the reports, procedures and processes established by rules and regulations of the Department to ensure that the Director may comply with the statutory requirement to supervise the financial accounting by public entities in this state;

 

(s) "Proof of cash" means a procedure more extensive and detailed than a bank reconciliation used to verify the entity's records are in agreement with the cash transactions which have been recorded by the bank. The form is available on the Department of Audit, Public Funds website. This procedure shall be performed by an independent third party;

 

(t) "Revenue" for the purpose of reporting, means and includes all revenues from all outside sources, as well as, all grants received during the reporting fiscal year. If the entity normally reports on a cash basis, the report will conform to cash revenues received. If the entity normally reports on an accrual or modified accrual basis the report will be consistent with whichever accounting basis is normally used;

 

(u) "Review level engagement" means a review as defined by the AICPA professional standards. Footnotes to financial statements shall disclose all known commitments as of the date of the financial statements that are material to the financial statements, including construction commitments;

 

(v) "Self audit" means an analysis conducted internally by any official not involved in the daily transactions of the entity or by an independent third party, with the assistance of the entity, and certified to by an officer, to verify the correctness of transaction recording and to provide management with reasonable assurance that assets are adequately safeguarded;

 

(w) "Special district" means any entity as described in W.S. 16-4-125(c) as well as entities listed in W.S. 16-12-202 (a);

 

(x) "Specified procedures" means a procedure which complies with the AICPA professional standards, as well as, other procedures which may be required or approved by the Director.

 

Section 5. Guidance. Manuals, handbooks, and worksheets are available on the Department of Audit, Public Funds website.

 

Section 6.  Annual Census Report Information.

 

(a) To avoid duplication of effort, the annual census report currently being filed with the federal bureau of the census, or with the Department, by all entities required to report to the Department, will be utilized by the Department to the extent possible to obtain the required revenue, expenditure, and financial activity information. The Department will seek approval from the appropriate federal authority for modification of the annual census report form, if necessary, to provide the information required by the Department. However, refusal of the federal authority to modify the census report form shall not alter the obligation of the reporting entity to provide the Department with the required information;

 

(b) The Department will make available reporting forms, upon request, to any entity which is not required to file an annual census report but which is required to report to the Department.

 

Section 7. Report Format.

 

(a) Informational (census) report forms may include, but are not limited to:

 

(i) County Treasurer's Abstract Statement (F-66)(WY-l)

 

(ii) County Clerk's Abstract Statement (F-66)(WY-la)

 

(iii) Annual City and Town Financial Report (F-66)(WY-2)

 

(iv) Special Purpose Districts

 

(A) Special Agencies (F-32)

 

(B) Major Special Agencies (F-66-WY-4)

 

(v) Survey of County Board Finances (PF-1-02)

 

(b) The report format may include additional or supplemental information as required by the Director, such as the following:

 

(i)  Annual Report Summary;

 

(ii)  Internal Controls Evaluation or Self audit;

 

(iii)  Proof of Cash; and

 

(iv)  A copy of the contract or Engagement Letter with an Independent Auditor for a CPA Audit or CPA Review.

 

(c) The Department shall make the necessary forms for uniform reporting available on its website (https://audit.wyo.gov/public-funds).

 

Section 8. Instructions for Reporting; Compliance Required.

 

(a) It is recognized that reported census financial data may not always agree with audited financial statements or with accounting entries made in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP);

 

(b) To ensure that financial data reported to the Department is uniformly identified, grouped, and reported, the Director shall provide specific instructions for completion of each reporting form. The reporting entity must comply with the Director's instructions, even though compliance requires modification of internal accounting programs, procedures, or reports. [W.S. 9-1-510 (a)]

 

Section 9. Time for Filing Reports. The required reports shall be filed in the office of the Director of the Department no later than September 30th for the prior fiscal year being reported. The reports included in this section are identified in section 7 of this chapter of these rules. Copies of publications of hearings relevant to the reports shall be included in these filings.

 

Section 10. Certification of Report. Each census report, regardless of risk assessment level, shall be certified by completing the Annual Report Summary form, which is signed by the appointed or elected chairman or president and the treasurer in the case of a special district; the clerk and the treasurer for a county; or the mayor and the treasurer for a city or town; or the officials for a state agency or institution. The certificate shall verify under oath that, to the best of their knowledge, the information contained in the report is a true, accurate, and complete presentation of the financial activities of the reporting entity.