Town Accountant’s tasks

Joy Ricciuto, the Town Accountant, attended the selectmen meeting last night, and gave a great presentation that both summarized the essential functions of her position and provided the current status of her calendar tasks.  What follows are her notes for the presentation –

The fiscal year 2014 closing and reconciliation process is fully underway, FY14 cash is fully reconciled to the Treasurer, tax accounts (real estate + Excise) are reconciled, and school ac’s, grant, revolving funds are in progress,                 Water funds, Sewer funds, Trust & Stabilization funds are next.

Reconciliation and closing process occurs during August and September, around October for fixed assets.

Fixed assets purchased during the year are updated, deprecation for the year calculated., all this info go into the Town’s financial statements as per GASB (governmental accounting standards board) statement #34.

GASB 34 is accounting for fixed assets and was implemented back in 2003

After the reconciliation process, the Town Accountant looks carefully at reservations of fund balance as a part of the closing process.

In August we need to set aside a couple weeks to assist the School dept on the School End of Year report that is filed with the Dept of Elementary & Secondary Education (DESE formerly DOE). We calculate the costs the town spends on behalf of the School department that does not show up on the School’s operating budget in the town meeting warrant report,

those costs consists of health insurance, the 62% the town pays for each active employee, the 50% the town pays for the School retired employees, plus basic life insurance costs, prop+ liab insurance, unemployment claims, and school debt principal and interest payments, school employees share of the unfunded pension liability, and other costs incurred by town departments on behalf of the school department.

October/November is schedule A month, it takes approx a month to create worksheet schedules and record all town     spending and revenues by dept and to record each grant received in a report due to the State November 30th, which culminates in the final closing process in the financial software which moves the balance sheet account balances into the new   fiscal year, and ends with the Town Accountant’s calculation of the Town’s free cash.

November is also when the tax recap process (tax rate setting) begins which takes a couple of weeks, and when the annual budget process for the next fiscal year begins. Accountant’s office is responsible for the budget worksheet packets which include historical info that are distributed to the department heads.

The town’s independent Auditors are scheduled for two weeks of field work at the town hall in November beginning November 17th. A lot of prep work prior to their arrival. The firm name is Powers & Sullivan out of Wakefield.

The past fiscal year saw the conversion and integration of the School department’s financial records onto the town’s Munis financial software. Since early spring this has been an enormous project, with the School department    hiring an outside consultant to expand and create a newer, better revised chart of accounts with account numbers that                 mirror the State’s DESE account numbers and still retains the characteristics of the Town’s current State UMAS compliant g/l structures. (UMAS= unified mass muni accounting system). During the conversion process we were without a School Business Manager from mid April till June 30, the School staff were off during July and August and now with school back in session, the staff is back and still trying to log on to the new software for the first time and the new school Finance Director/Business Manager Michael LaFrancesca has been extremely responsive and proactive getting school staff on and training them as users himself.

We will need to engage a GASB 45 OPEB actuary to update/perform another study this January 2015.Bienniel requirement.

(OPEB = Other Post Employment Benefits) to determine the town’s current OPEB liability.

Guestimate- free cash to remain upwards of $2.m

$1.3 m in free cash appropriated at the April 2014 town meeting

$1m recovered

$541,000 departmental turnbacks, received $381k in local receipts over projections, FY14 snow deficit was $164,766 to be raised in FY15

Per the State, reserves are a necessary component of sound fiscal management and bond rating agencies expect the town to maintain reserves for good financial stability in order to prevent sharp fluctuations in the tax rate and to satisfy bond rating agencies and the investors.