Finance

Provide exceptional financial services to stakeholders of Yavapai County that ensure financial integrity, promote accountability in government and maintain public trust.

To communicate the financial performance of the County in a timely, relevant and comprehenible method for all stakeholders.

Finance Director and Staff training - The majority of the staff and the finance director were hired within the last 12 months. The primary cause of the turnover in the finance department is retirement of long-term employees. Training and cross-training is a current priority to ensure the stability and continuity of the department. This includes reviewing, modifying and developing policies and procedures.

Phase 1 - Replacement of the Financial System - The finance department collaborated with various departments to complete a needs assessment, plan for management of the project, an analysis of current processes and design of future processes using best practices. The outcome of this phase is a request for proposal (RFP) and ultimately to contract with a vendor for the purchase and development of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

Finance Director and Staff training/Internal Controls - Continue reviewing policies and procedures and begin the process of documenting the internal controls of the department. The department is small and monitoring the assignement of tasks is crucial to a strong internal control system.

Phase 2 - Implementation of a New Financial System - The first phase of the implementation of a new ERP system will be the finance module. Staff will be heavily involved in setting up, testing and reviewing the implementation of a new financial system. Including modifying policies and procedures that arise from more efficient and effective business processes.

Federal Grant Policies and Procedures - The County has received $91.5 million in federal grants related to COVID-19 over the past two years. These grants have detailed regulatory and reporting requirements that will be relevant for several years as the monies do not need to be fully spent until December 31, 2026. It is necessary to continue the development of procedures to assist staff in an efficient method to comply with the various regulations and reporting requirements.

Development of a lead role in the Procurement Process - The County is in need of standardized procurement processes and a modern procurement policy. The Finance Department will be updating the procurement policy and taking a lead role in assisting department directors with compliance of the policy as well as the development of requests for proposals (RFP's). This includes creating procedures, development assistance and review of RFP's, assistance with the evaluation of responses and working with attorneys for contract development. The budget inclues an Exhibit 3 request for an additional accountant that specializes in procurment to assist with this goal.

All of the goals and objectives described above meet the Board of Supervisors strategic goal of process improvements and efficiencies.

The Finance Department is responsible for administering federal funds for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The objectives of this program are to "help job seekers and workers access employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market and match employers with skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy." The Finance Department administers this program by passing through funds which start at the Federal Government, are sent to the State, then to Yavapai County and finally to the Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG).

NACOG is a nonprofit corporation representing local governments and providing a variety of services within Apache, Coconino, Navajo and Yavapai counties. NACOG provides workforce development services as the operating entity for the WIOA program in northern Arizona. While funding comes from the Federal government, it is the Finance Department's responsibility to ensure the funding is based on appropriate requests. The Finance Department receives requests for funding monthly. These reports are submitted to the State for reimbursement funding, and the State assembles all the WIOA program's funding requests for the State and in turn makes a request from the Federal Government. Annually, the Finance Department is required to perform subrecipient monitoring on NACOG which includes a detailed review and testing of their financial operations. The expenditures for Yavapai County for this program for FY2023 per Exhibit 5 are again budgeted at $1,500,000.