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January 11, 2024

January 11, 2024

Michigan Committee on Governmental Auditing and Accounting

January 11, 2024

Meeting Minutes

  1. Call to Order
    1. Cary Vaughn called the meeting to order at 10:04 a.m.
  2. Roll Call
    1. Members Present – 11
      1. Cary Vaughn – Department of Treasury
      2. Yongping McDonnell - Department of Treasury
      3. Rana Emmons – PSLZ
      4. Paul Matz – Rehmann
      5. Penny Ray – Milford, MI
      6. Bill Tucker – Maner Costerisan
      7. Michelle Watterworth – Plante Moran
      8. Eric Van Dop – Brickley DeLong
      9. Michael Slater – City of Livonia
      10. Bridgette Gransden – Midland, MI
      11. Wendy Trumbull – Canton Township, MI
  3. Review of Prior Meeting Minutes
    1. The October 26, 2023 draft meeting minutes were sent out to the members for review on November 6, 2023. Comments from Penny Ray and Michelle Watterworth were received and corrected. Committee approved.
  4. Old Business
    1. None
  5. New Business
    1. Member Introductions
      1. Cary Vaughn introduced the new member to the committee: Wendy Trumbull from Canton Township who will represent the townships. Cary also informed the committee that it was Michael Slater’s last day on the committee and thanked him for all of his input and help over the years.
    2. Thoughts for 2024 Meetings
      1. One of the goals is to get the documents out to the committee sooner so there is more time to review them. Yongping will help keep things on track and get stuff out to the committee prior to the meeting for review.
    3. Numbered Letter 2023-2 for Accounting for State Pension Grants
      1. MDOT sent something out for review. Yongping said the exposure draft is out until January 19th. Bridgette inquired if the terminology should be restricted assets instead of irrevocable trusts for those not involved with MERS. Cary informed them that this concept was not included in the draft letter. Michelle brought to their attention that the link in the exposure draft does not work. Yongping will check into it to make sure it’s fixed. Cary wants to entertain an extension of the exposure draft for two weeks to send out a draft with a working link. Cary thanked Michelle for all the help she did to help Treasury draft the letter.
    4. Numbered Letters for 2023 Release
      1. We have begun a process of reviewing and updating the old numbered letters in 2022. The goal is to review and update 20% of them each year. Mostly, it will be formatting updates. The exposure draft for 2023’s release was out on December 11, 2023. Any feedback should be sent before January 12, 2024.
    5. MCGAA Statement No. 4
      1. Treasury is working on it, however, more time to review is needed. Treasury would like to thank Plante Moran for the work. Michelle indicated that it was the MGFOA Standards Committee that worked on the statement. Cary then thanked MGFOA for the hard work.
    6. Uniform Reporting Format
      1. The final Uniform Reporting Format is scheduled to be released this month. Comments by Plante Moran was the only feedback received. We reviewed it and made some adjustments accordingly. Cary confirmed that the Treasury replied to Plante Moran about their feedback. Treasury thanks Michelle for the firm’s feedback. It is important for us to hear how others think about the new format before we issue it.
    7. Budget Manual
      1. The exposure draft is scheduled to be issued this month as well. Would like to thank MGFOA for their efforts in putting the draft together for Treasury to work on. Cary explained that the exposure draft may look like different from the version MGFOA prepared, however, there was not many changes made to the content. Mostly, Treasury just re-organized the content.
    8. Road Manual
      1. Bill Tucker suggested that we work on updating the manual with new standards first in the last meeting, however, this is one of the busiest times for Treasury so we will not be able to make a good amount of progress on it until after March 2024.
    9. Uniform Chart of Accounts
      1. Our goal is to issue the updated version in January 2024, however, there will not be many changes other than underlying formatting changes which will not be visible to readers. Yongping indicated that it is possible that we may not be able to issue it as planned due to the work related to ADA compliance. It has close to 200 pages and may take a good amount of time to make it ADA compliant.
    10. F65, APR Update, and Submission of Both Reports
      1. In the last meeting, Cary updated the committee on the changes that were going to happen to the F65 report and the APR, however, due to limited resources with the state, these changes will not be made as planned any time soon. We have not been given an updated timeline but probably will be released in the fall. F65 report may be out next year. APR is on the top of the list of things that need to be done.
    11. Treasury Website
      1. Cary informed the committee that he is pushing for a website overhaul and would like to send out a survey to see how Treasury is doing and gain others perspectives. These are some of his thoughts and have not been reviewed and approved yet.
    12. Topics for 2024 Meetings
      1. Cary Vaughn requested that any topics that the committee would like to talk about in future meetings to please send them.
  6. Adjournment
    1. 11:03AM