Lake County finance staff outline AP, procurement, p‑card and payroll reforms at work session

Lake County finance staff on Wednesday detailed a set of operational reforms intended to tighten internal controls, speed vendor payments and improve grant tracking.

Candice, finance director for Lake County, led a roughly two‑hour presentation at the board’s Jan. 29 work session that laid out changes to the county’s cost allocation reporting, accounts‑payable (AP) schedule, procurement and purchasing‑card (p‑card) processes, payroll procedures and a newly created grants database.

The presentation said the county must provide an annual cost allocation plan and that the county recently engaged MGT of America to prepare the plan. “We are required, by the state to provide a cost allocation plan,” Candice said, describing the consultant role and noting the work results in state reimbursement of indirect costs tied to county social‑service work.

Why this matters

County staff told the commissioners the reforms are designed to increase recoveries and reduce audit risk by ensuring expenses and grant receipts are recorded to the correct accounts, reducing late vendor payments, and enforcing procurement and p‑card rules. Staff also said the changes are intended to make the county’s financial records easier to reconcile with the treasurer’s records and to reduce the number of legacy items that complicate audits.

Key points from finance staff

- Cost allocation: Candice explained the cost allocation plan (prepared by MGT) documents indirect costs that the state reimburses, and that the county has used consultant work to…