Auditors: SAP trial-balance mismatches and budget coding choices create extra work for Anchorage accountants

Auditors and staff told the audit committee that the municipality's use of SAP on a budgetary basis — combined with detailed budget coding in resolutions and ordinances — has created recurring differences between trial balances, budget documents and GAAP financial reports, producing substantial back-end reconciliations.

"None of the three match," Joy Mariner said of the budget, trial balance and financial report, and she urged the committee to reach consensus on whether SAP should be used on a budgetary or accounting basis. Mariner described instances in which an approved budget coding approach required off-books adjustments to arrive at GAAP-compliant financial statements.

Lance Wilbur and other staff acknowledged the trade-offs: the assembly and departments often want fine-grained budget specificity, which complicates closing the books. Auditors recommended more consistent policies, clearer ownership for accounting and budgeting decisions, and additional review layers to improve the precision of year-end reporting.

Committee members asked for a separate, deeper session on SAP and budget-coding approaches to plan remediation work before the next audit cycle.