OSA Weekly Update - 11/8/2024
1. Message from Auditor Blaha
2. Now Open: Registration for Local Government Training Conference
3. Available: 2024 CTAS Update 1 Enhancements Training Video
4. TIF: Regularly Review Terms of TIF Obligations
5. Deadline: Pension Reporting Information
6. Avoiding Pitfall: Issuance of Checks
7. Job Openings
1. Message from Auditor Blaha
We owe a round of applause to all who made election day smooth and effective. For many of you, elections are just one of many duties. Thank you for not only running a major voting event, but also keeping all the other balls in the air. Congratulations on a job well done!
2. Now Open: Registration for Local Government Training Conference
Registration is now open for our annual Local Government Training Conference on November 20, 2024. This year's conference will be fully virtual. You will find the conference agenda on our website and the link to register on the NASACT website.
3. Available: 2024 CTAS Update 1 Enhancements Training Video
The on-going modernization project for the Small City and Town Accounting System (CTAS), developed by the Office of the State Auditor (OSA), continues to update the program.
The 2024 CTAS Update 1 Enhancements video is now available on the OSA website. The video is also available on the OSA YouTube Channel.
CTAS 2024 Update 1 enhancements include the ability to add employee reimbursements to payroll, Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) maximum limits, voiding a check in a prior fiscal year, Leave Time Report updated to include Comp. and ESST time, and a Holiday Pay column added in payroll. In addition to these enhancements, some minor known issues have also been corrected.
The OSA will continue to make updates to CTAS in 2024. If you have any issues or need assistance, please send an email to CTAS@osa.state.mn.us or call 651-296-6262.
4. TIF: Regularly Review Terms of TIF Obligations
To avoid making improper payments with tax increment funds, an authority should annually or regularly review the terms of any bonds, notes, loans, or contracts to which tax increment is obligated.
To learn more, please review the TIF topic.
If you have any questions, please contact us at TIF@osa.state.mn.us.
5. Deadline: Pension Reporting Information
Minnesota law requires forfeiture of fire state aid for fire relief associations that do not submit all required reporting information to the OSA by November 30. If 2023 reporting forms are not fully received in our office on or before that date, a relief association’s 2024 state aid will be automatically forfeited and the relief association will not be eligible for future state aid until the 2023 reporting forms are received. The OSA does not have authority to grant filing extensions beyond the November 30 deadline.
If you have questions regarding reporting requirements or need access to online reporting forms, please contact the Pension Division at 651-282-6110 or pension@osa.state.mn.us.
6. Avoiding Pitfall: Issuance of Checks
Governmental units need to be aware that allowing employees direct access to vendor payments creates higher risks that need to be mitigated with additional internal controls. Many larger governmental units segregate duties so one employee (or department) requests vendor payments, and another employee (in a different department) issues/mails the check to the vendor. Our Statement of Position on the Importance of Internal Controls has more information about the segregation of incompatible duties.
Funds may be improperly diverted if an employee requesting a vendor payment is allowed to physically pick up the requested check. To view two examples of the risks created when employees requesting vendor payments were allowed to pick up the vendor checks, see our Independent School District 625 (St. Paul Public Schools) Investigative Report and the Office of the Legislative Auditor’s Fraud at the Minnesota Department of Human Services Memorandum.
The Avoiding Pitfall is available on the OSA website.
7. Job Openings
Local Government Auditor (Duluth)
- Application deadline: November 12, 2024
Local Government Auditor Senior (Saint Paul)
- Application deadline: November 12, 2024