Supporting Financial Stability: Advanced Analysis with the SAO FIT Tool-Advanced Analysis with the SAO FIT Tool

Advanced Analysis with the SAO FIT Tool - 10.28.26

Pdf Summary

The Washington State Auditor’s Office (SAO) Financial Intelligence Tool (FIT) is a public application containing financial and related information for nearly all of Washington’s 2,200 local governments. It provides comparable, multi-year data to help users understand individual governments, compare them with peers, and explore statewide patterns. FIT serves government agencies, the public, journalists, researchers, rating agencies and others.<br /><br />For school districts, FIT uses financial statement data reported through the F-196 and monthly enrollment data reported to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. The source data is not adjusted, though labels may be standardized for display. District data is updated annually after submissions are processed.<br /><br />A district’s profile presents financial summaries, rankings, financial-health indicators and other basic information. Users can explore revenue and expenditure trends, drill down into categories and funds, and customize views by year, fund, percentage change or per-student amounts. Additional FIT views support comparisons across government types, searches by dollars received or spent, and statewide filtering of financial-health indicators.<br /><br />Indicators assess areas such as whether spending aligns with revenue, changes in fund balance, fund-balance sufficiency, debt-service burden and enrollment trends. Benchmarks reflect expectations based on nationwide practices; outlooks highlight results for attention, but are not scores or diagnoses of distress. Side-by-side comparisons, rankings, and statewide averages or medians can provide context.<br /><br />SAO emphasizes that FIT is a tool, not the whole picture: its data is limited and depends on accurate inputs, while districts provide the context behind the numbers. A suggested workflow is to review a district profile and peer rankings, examine trends, then consider financial-health indicators alongside comparable data. FIT includes in-app guidance, and SAO offers additional resources, training and support.

Keywords

Washington State Auditor’s Office

Financial Intelligence Tool

local government finance

school district data

financial statements

enrollment trends

peer comparisons

financial health indicators

fund balance

statewide patterns