The goal of the sessions were to accomplish three things, said Roger Marcoux, Lamoille County sheriff. The departments wanted to establish a uniform chart of accounts, upgrade the sheriff's departments uniform accounting manual and implement a common software financial system product, said Marcoux in a news release.
"And we did it," he said.
According to Wendy Wilson, office manager with the Windham County Sheriff's Department, the newly instituted financial programs will allow each department in Vermont to assist each other with the daily operations as opposed to the past when each used its own method.
"We're all on the same page with the accounting systems," said Wilson, noting all the departments now follow the same policies and practices in regard to accounting procedures.
"We're all on a standardized method of accounting," she added. "We are all doing things as we should be doing it."
State Auditor Tom Salmon said in a release announcing the financial turnaround that his office has worked one Tuesday a month for 16 months with the sheriff's departments to strengthen financial management, accounting and reporting.
"We believe that with a common financial software system and common chart of accounts, each department will have many people to turn to for answers and support when accounting or reporting questions arise," Salmon stated. "In the past, many business offices were on their own, running unique systems. When the bookkeeper got sick or was out for any length of time, there was no support network to step in and help out."
Orleans County Sheriff Lance Bowen agreed, adding all the departments across the state are in a better position to be accountable to the public for their finances. "Getting all the sheriffs to agree with these significant changes was quite an accomplishment," he said in a press statement.
Salmon said the monthly training sessions will continue as new training topics, such as cash management strategies, fraud risk assessments and software use. He added the commitment of the sheriffs and their staffs has made the session execute smoothly.
"They proved that with sustained attention to identify and correct real problems you can reach important goals," he said in the release. "As an auditor, I've found that it is usually much better to work with the people involved in a cooperative, not adversarial, way."
Salmon also credited Townshend Selectboard member Joe Juhasz who worked in depth on the program and is expected to spearhead the meeting while Salmon serves overseas.
Chris Garofolo can be reached at cgarofolo@reformer.com or 802-254-2311 ext. 275.