Page 17 - The Edge - Winter 2021

If You Don't Know What You Don't Know, Here's Help

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This enables you to see who is responsible for each task, what another department does,” she said. “It may
and when it was completed, she said. It helps to ensure lead to a new approach of certain tasks, and it helps
that none of the budget control groups is over-extended. employees who want to keep moving up the chain to a
Especially important are payroll tax forms at the end of higher position.”
each month and the annual 1099s and W2 forms. She
also mentioned annually updating conflict-of-interest To help her team, Virgil said she produced several
forms for employees and Governing Board members how-to guides to help staff members with tasks they are
and making the information publicly available. “Make managing. “Keep that guide on your desk or desktop,”
sure you don’t have any violations,” Kirk said. If there she said. “It helps things go a little bit smoother. It
is a conflict of interest with a vendor, communicate helps a temporary position keep the train on the tracks.”
that to the Purchasing Department, she said.
Regarding the possibility of doing internal audits, most
Virgil said knowing which duties and responsibilities school districts will not be able to fund such a position,
are assigned to which employee helps understand work- Kirk said. But you can do some internal audits using
flow – especially when things get hectic – and how it the staff you have, incorporating that into routine
affects everybody else, not just the accounting team. A tasks. “I encourage you to utilize resources you have
timely review of requisitions and purchase orders helps within you department, checking each other’s work,”
to prioritize tasks. She also recommended having a tool Kirk said. “Have a fresh set of eyes. When we look at
to document individual working hours so someone is our own stuff, we don’t look outside the box. Hey, is
available for any task throughout the day. there a better way to do this?”

“One of the biggest challenges
Linda Virgil can be reached at: lvirgil@pusd11.net and
for business managers is knowing (623) 486-6076.
what needs to be done and when it Sara Kirk can be reached at: sarak@heinfeldmeech.com

needs to be done.” – Linda Virgil and (602) 277-9449.

When faced with a backlog, you should know if
someone needs refresher training or additional help,
Virgil said. She cited an unexpected workload when her
district had to make 7,000 refunds for field trips that
were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She recommended holding weekly staff meetings to
talk about what went well and what maybe did not, to
discuss work-related issues and even social ones.

As for cross training, Virgil recalled that in the past if
someone left the district or took a long or unexpected
leave, no one was qualified to fill in. “We were left with
a gap to fill,” Virgil said. “Had we been more prepared,
we could have had someone step into those shoes.”

That person doesn’t have to be an expert in the field,
but at least they keep the key functions of that position
flowing toward a goal of meeting deadlines, Virgil said.
“It allows one of your team to step up and understand

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