HB2015

THE CONTEXT: ADOA, in accordance with generally accepted governmental accounting principles, must develop and prescribe for the use of a uniform accounting system for all budget units to ensure compliance with all legal and constitutional requirements, including requirements for receiving, spending and accounting for public monies. ADOA must maintain complete, accurate and current financial records for state monies and other public monies in the state treasury that are available to, encumbered by or expended by each budget unit in a manner consistent with the uniform state accounting system to prepare statewide financial...

WHAT THE BILL DID: Prescribes penalties for an organization's failure to submit accurate and complete financial statements to the Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) to comply with federal single audit requirements and deadlines. Caps the total penalty assessed in any fiscal year at $8,000,000 or at one percent of the organization's state General Fund (GF) appropriation for the fiscal year in which the penalty is assessed.

WHY IT MATTERED: The practical reason for this bill was to make the stated financial responsibility enforceable and keep public reporting on time. It would require each organization that is included in the state's reporting entity to submit all necessary, accurate and complete and final federal expenditure or program information to ADOA to meet the federal single audit requirements and deadlines, and would also require ADOA, if an organization fails to submit accurate and complete final financial statements or information by October 31, to: a) assess a penalty of one twelfth of one percent of the organization's state GF appropriation for the ensuing fiscal year for every 30 days that the submission is late; and b) withhold the penalty amount from the organization's state GF appropriation allotment schedule for the ensuing fiscal year, rather than leave the current rule unchanged.