Gilliam County treasurer warns accounting conversion has delayed interest distributions, proposes interim monthly fix

Treasurer (speaker 3) told the Gilliam County Court on Jan. 7 that the county’s move to a new Cassell accounting system left conversion errors that prevent the automated distribution of bank interest into budget lines. "It's just zeros," the treasurer said, describing how interest revenue does not currently show up in the budget display and must be moved out of an equity account to be visible.

The treasurer outlined the problem: the old system automatically recorded interest to an equity account and distributed it; Cassell lacks that automated method and the county is missing beginning fund balances from the conversion. That gap means any interim distribution could later require adjustments. "If those beginning fund balances are wrong, you might short or... give somebody not quite enough," the treasurer cautioned.

As a practical step, the treasurer said she built a spreadsheet to compute interest distributions and proposed using it until Cassell or a third party delivers an integrated solution. Commissioners asked for a monthly distribution frequency; the court agreed to use the spreadsheet and to include a clear disclaimer that reported amounts are "subject to adjustment" after the conversion errors are resolved. The treasurer also said Cassell support and a CPA review may be needed to investigate thousands of implementation journal entries from July–December 2020 that currently skew fund-level balances.

The court and finance staff emphasized the need for a usable balance sheet and regular bank-reconciliation reports. The treasurer said once allocations, reconciliation and interest posting are complete the county can generate a balance sheet for public review. No formal vote was required for the interim reporting approach; commissioners instructed staff to continue working with Cassell and to provide updated reports at the next meeting.

Next step: staff will continue conversion work with Cassell, supply the interim monthly interest-distribution report and include a disclaimer that amounts may change after reconciliation.