Overview
Budget and Fiscal Services (BFS) is responsible for management of all agency financial activities including accounting, budgeting, contractual agreements, financial systems, grant management, and payroll. Our activities include:
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- Preparation, justification, and allotment of the department’s $775 million biennial operating budget;
- Negotiating and executing contractual and grant agreements;
- Issuing payments to vendors for goods and services received;
- Billing and collection of money or debt owed to the agency; and
- Processing payroll for approximately 2,400 employees.
Key Measurements and Statistics
Each month, BFS makes 2,300 vendor payments totaling $7 million, collects 2,000 checks and electronic payments totaling $4 million, conducts 120 contracting actions (contract awards or amendments), issues billings for 250 grants and reimbursable contracts, and issues 5,000 employee payroll payments.
In addition, we conduct 80-100 competitive procurements each year and process payroll for 300-400 volunteer firefighters involved in fire mobilizations during the summer months.
Each of our Units assess their performance through a number of measures as follows:
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- Accounts Payable: Pay vendors within 10 business days of receipt of voucher.
- Accounts Receivable: Minimize outstanding billings over 60 days past due.
- Budget Section: Process Fiscal Notes during legislative session in less than 3 days.
- Contracts Section: Process simple contractual agreements within 10 business days.
- Payroll/Financial Systems: Minimize payroll overpayments and underpayments to employees.
Successes of 2021
A major success for the past year is our ability to meet all the timeline deliverables for the replacement of the statewide agency automated financial systems. During the past year, a large number of our agency staff have been deeply involved in the One Washington project. One Washington is a statewide, multi-year project, led by the Office of Financial Management (OFM), to modernize many of the state’s aging financial and administrative systems. These systems include a number of functional areas including financial, procurement, budgeting, and human resources. Budget and Fiscal Services staff, along with other agency employees, continue to participate and contribute to the success of this enterprise-wide project. More information on the One Washington Project can be found at this link: https://ofm.wa.gov/about/special-initiatives/one-washington
During 2021, we also continued to operate in a hybrid teleworking environment due to the ongoing pandemic. We found success in streamlining and automating various divisional processes to allow for the electronic flow of documents.