Electronic Filing of Annual Reports to be Strongly Encouraged

By Tom Michalak, CPA

With year-end 2007 reporting activities still fresh in our minds, let's look ahead to year-end 2008 and a change desired by the State Board of Accounts. In 2007, the State Board of Accounts released a new and improved software program that allows users to prepare and file year-end Annual Reports for counties, libraries, townships, solid waste districts, cities and towns, and special districts electronically. While optional for calendar year 2007 reporting, electronic filing using the 2008 edition of this program will be strongly encouraged for calendar year 2008 reporting, and could likely become required in the future.

The Computerized Annual Report program will help the State Board standardize reporting, and should allow for better archiving and sharing of data across agencies. For example, the State Board is now able to share Annual Report data with the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF), meaning that to file the DLGF annual debt report, all an entity that used the computerized annual report had to submit to the DLGF was the completed worksheet of all outstanding debt and a note to the DLGF that the annual report was filed electronically. The State Board and the DLGF would then work together to share the data, making it easier to comply with the DLGF.

Here at Umbaugh, we prepared several computerized 2007 annual reports for our clients, and are fully prepared to comply with the new process for 2008. If you prepared your own 2007 Annual Report for the State Board of Accounts using the pen-and-paper method, you should consider downloading and installing a copy to become familiar with the program. Learning the program now might save you hours during the busy year-end closing season. The computerized annual report is a free download from the State Board of Accounts website (http://www.in.gov/sboa/3168.htm).