Learn how to harness the power of SAO’s Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT) and explore your government’s financial data with our series of short overview videos highlighting key FIT features. Get started today with FIT’s “Government Types” feature. #GoodGovernment

🎵Fraudulent Activity. Follow The Money. Collabs. 🎵These are just three of the playlists from our Spotify music profile, now ready for summer! #SAOonSpotify

🐾 Happy International Corgi Day! 🐾 Today, we celebrate not just these paws-itively adorable pups around the world, but also our own unofficial mascot, Theo the Wonder Corgi—a reminder that even the smallest among us can have a big impact! 🐶✨

The most clicked link in our latest e-newsletter involved a small town's clerk treasurer who misappropriated $50,000. Read for yourself and subscribe today: https://conta.cc/4uXHjPm

🎉🌟 Last week State Auditor Pat McCarthy helped celebrate the accomplishments of several SAO staff members including service milestones, special certifications and outstanding contributions to the work we do on behalf of the public. Your hard work and dedication do not go unnoticed! 🙌 #WeAreSAO

Learn what State Auditor Pat McCarthy has to say about the importance of making our Office and its work open and accessible to Washingtonians in this short video clip, courtesy of TVW.

Learn how to harness the power of SAO’s Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT) and explore your government’s financial data with our series of short overview videos highlighting key FIT features. Get started today with FIT’s “Navigate by Dollars” feature.

Attention local governments: Now's the time to make sure your financial data is complete and accurate in SAO's Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT)—Washingtonians deserve it! Learn more in our recent blog post.

Brandi Pritchard, SAO's Assistant Director of Special Investigations, adds some insightful commentary in this story from @khqlocalnews.bsky.social regarding small-town fraud investigations and our latest published report.

Q: What subject of our recent performance audit responsible for billions of dollars in educational funding was deemed outdated, unstable and at risk of failure? A. Tune into our presentation in front of lawmakers on Wednesday, June 3 at 1 p.m. to learn more: https://ow.ly/fP7v50Z2TCg

https://mississippitoday.org/2026/05/21/school-district-financial-audit/ Audit news from around the nation: Almost half of Mississippi's school districts have not submitted at least one year for financial audits.

Applications are being accepted for grant funding from WaTech supporting cybersecurity planning and improvements for eligible entities including cities, counties, school districts, higher education institutions, special-purpose districts and state agencies. Apply: https://ow.ly/AuLZ50YWfL8

The countdown is on: Check out our government annual filing infographic for governments with a May 30 submission deadline, sortable by county. For more financial data on your own local government, visit SAO's Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT) at https://sao.wa.gov/FIT

Newly published fraud investigation report detailing $50,000 misappropriation highlights recurring issue with small-town losses. Learn more: https://ow.ly/Rbu550Z5hWe

What do you call someone who's smart, hard-working and enjoys serving the public? Our next employee we hope! sao.wa.gov/jobs

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)'s 14th edition of the largest global study on occupational fraud is out now featuring data from more than 140 countries and 2400 real cases exploring the costs, schemes, victims and bad actors of fraud. Insightful information for local governments.

T minus 45 days (ish) until State Auditor Pat McCarthy and hundreds of state auditors, comptrollers, treasurers and other financial officers from across the country gather June 9-12 for the National State Auditors Association annual conference in Tacoma, WA. Learn more: https://ow.ly/foaN50YBWhS

T minus 100 hours (give or take) until the May 30th filing deadline for governments with a 2025 fiscal year-end. Learn more: https://www.sao.wa.gov/bars-annual-filing/bars-annual-report-filing-faqs #GoodGovernment

“This Memorial Day, we honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. We at SAO are proud of our colleagues who are veterans, those who still serve, and the military families who support those in harm’s way.” —State Auditor Pat McCarthy

Cape not required. See our latest openings and apply today: https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/washington/sao

Shout out to the Spokane Public Facilities District (SPFD) for working to improve their travel and credit card expense processing with free Lean services from our Office and SAO Lean Specialist Cami Jones! #GoodGovernment

Attention local governments: Live chat help is now available for annual financial filing weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (except Memorial Day) through May 29. Simply log in to the filing system and chat with SAO experts for guidance. For more help, visit our FAQ page: https://ow.ly/8bfJ50YKCC1

Thank you to several members of SAO's current leadership team who recently took their lunchtime to provide valuable guidance to participants of SAO's "Emerging Leaders" program, dedicated to educating and empowering staff interested in advancing their career growth. #WeAreSAO

Learn about State Auditor Pat McCarthy’s frank assessment of a troubled government program, recently read into the official record for legislators.

For those of you keeping score at home: Check out our government annual filing infographic for governments with a May 30 submission deadline, sortable by county and updated daily.

We appreciate the coverage of our latest performance audit by Seattle's Leading Local News: Weather, Traffic, Sports and More… illustrating our diligent efforts to examine government programs for efficiency and effectiveness on behalf of Washingtonians.

Shout out to SAO’s Michael Huynh took the stage earlier this month at the Association of Local Government Auditors annual conference to discuss how our Office uses SQL (Structured Query Language for those of you keeping score) to analyze millions of records and answer audit objectives. #WeAreSAO

ICYMI: Reporter Michelle Esteban and KOMO News highlighted our latest performance audit work in this story about school funding in our state. You may view a summary of results and key findings from our report on our website: https://ow.ly/g0Q050Z2aiK

From the 'SAO Did You Know?' file: Governments must report all personal purchases made on government credit cards, regardless of whether the employee responsible for the loss paid it back, or the government sought recovery from their bank or insurance company. Learn more in our recent blog post.

Are the state’s schools receiving their fair share of funding? Our performance audit looked at the software system operated by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction that plays a critical role in this process. Learn what we found.

We've updated two of our most popular resources for local governments offering revenue guidance for cities and counties. Learn more today: https://ow.ly/E9yO50YSZAu #GoodGovernment

Applications are being accepted for grant funding supporting cybersecurity planning and improvements for eligible entities including cities, counties, Tribal governments, school districts, higher education institutions, special-purpose districts and state agencies. Apply: https://ow.ly/AuLZ50YWfL8

This recent story from The Columbian highlights our published audit work which the public can find on our website: https://ow.ly/VrL350Z0qkJ

We’ve been busy since this time yesterday at the Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) annual conference: Our experts helped school officials fight fraud, learn about valuable audit updates, and more! Learn more our school resources: https://ow.ly/bBpl50Z0jTB

Follow us on your favorite social media today and learn interesting tidbits about our work, staff, podcasts, breaking news…and of course our unofficial mascot, Theo the Wonder Corgi (duh). Find all of our social media links at https://sao.wa.gov/social

Connecting with our financial colleagues and sharing our expertise are two of our favorite things! Case in point: These great pictures from this week’s Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) annual conference in Tacoma. #GoodGovernment

Today’s number of 692 represents the volume of submissions to our Citizen Hotline in fiscal year 2025, a key component in our efforts to help protect public funds. Learn more: https://sao.wa.gov/report-concern/how-report-concern/citizen-hotline

How can SAO’s Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT) help your school district better understand its financial posture? Niles Kostick from our Office knows, and yesterday he shared his expertise with attendees of the WASBO annual conference. Thank you, Niles! #GoodGovernment

Nearly 2,000 local governments are due to file their annual reporting to our Office by May 30. How are things shaping up? How does your government stack up with its peers? Check out our updated list today: https://ow.ly/agEF50YRw8e

Congratulations to the Washington State School for the Blind (WSSB) for receiving a State Auditor’s Stewardship Award in recognition of its dedication to professionalism, accountability, and excellence in public service. We appreciate your commitment to #GoodGovernment!

It’s WASBO Wednesday! Today marks the first full day of sessions for the Washington Association of School Business Officials (WASBO) annual conference, where many SAOers are sharing their expertise with our colleagues. Can’t make it? Check out webpage for resources and more.

Last week State Auditor Pat McCarthy kicked off our latest Emerging Leaders session featuring more than two dozen eager staff members interested in advancing their career growth. This program is designed to educate and empower these individuals as they pursue advancement with our Office. #WeAreSAO

ICYMI: This story centers around our recently published audit report which you may view online here: https://ow.ly/xS8l50YYppT You can always search for published reports by government name, type and more with our powerful audit-search tool: https://sao.wa.gov/reports-data/audit-reports

Do you vote, seek out local news, or get involved in community issues? We want to hear from you. Our Office is conducting a short, anonymous survey to understand how Washington residents engage with government and what we can do to communicate better. Take the survey: https://ow.ly/waVM50YVFYy

Learn how two school districts improved their recruitment processes with SAO’s complimentary Lean services in our recent case study: https://ow.ly/UOCn50YHjuk

Connect. Grow. Lead. That’s the focus of the Washington Association of School Business Officials, and that’s exactly what participants at the WASBO Annual Conference will experience! Learn more: https://ow.ly/6WeK50YMRU5

Cake? Check. 'Miss you' card? Check. Anything else? Check. Learn more about 'all the other stuff' local governments commonly overlook when employees leave in our latest blog post.

Shout out to the dedicated public servants (and one adorable Golden Lab) who were out earlier this week at the Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) festivities in Olympia, including State Auditor Pat McCarthy and other SAOers who spent time connecting with our colleagues!

Three things you missed in our last e-newsletter: a case study on how two school districts used our Lean services, an article on AI policies for governments, and a video on how to protect your passwords. Read more and subscribe today: https://conta.cc/3QGE2Fu

The Washington State Auditor’s Office audits every level of government in the state, and we want to hear what Washingtonians have to say about our work. Take our survey today and share your perspective: https://ow.ly/Ib9m50YUOwT