Accountability Audit Report  
Washington Counties Risk Pool  
Thurston County  
For the period October 1, 2016 through September 30, 2017  
Published May 7, 2018  
Report No. 1021232  
Office of the Washington State Auditor  
Pat McCarthy  
May 7, 2018  
Board of Directors  
Washington Counties Risk Pool  
Tumwater, Washington  
Report on Accountability  
Thank you for the opportunity to work with you to promote accountability, integrity and openness  
in government. The State Auditor’s Office takes seriously our role of providing state and local  
governments with assurance and accountability as the independent auditor of public accounts. In  
this way, we strive to help government work better, cost less, deliver higher value and earn greater  
public trust.  
Independent audits provide essential accountability and transparency for Pool operations. This  
information is valuable to management, the governing body and public stakeholders when  
assessing the government’s stewardship of public resources.  
The attached comprises our independent audit report on the Pool’s compliance with applicable  
requirements and safeguarding of public resources for the areas we examined. We appreciate the  
opportunity to work with your staff and we value your cooperation during the audit.  
Sincerely,  
Pat McCarthy  
State Auditor  
Olympia, WA  
Insurance Building, P.O. Box 40021 Olympia, Washington 98504-0021 (360) 902-0370 Pat.McCarthy@sao.wa.gov  
TABLE OF CONTENTS  
Audit Results................................................................................................................................... 4  
Related Reports............................................................................................................................... 5  
Information about the Pool ............................................................................................................. 6  
About the State Auditor's Office..................................................................................................... 7  
Washington State Auditor’s Office  
Page 3  
AUDIT RESULTS  
This report describes the overall results and conclusions for the areas we examined. In those  
selected areas, Pool operations complied with applicable state laws, regulations, and its own  
policies, and provided adequate controls over the safeguarding of public resources.  
About the audit  
This report contains the results of our independent accountability audit of the Washington Counties  
Risk Pool from October 1, 2016 through September 30, 2017.  
Management is responsible for ensuring compliance and adequate safeguarding of public resources  
from fraud, loss or abuse. This includes the design, implementation and maintenance of internal  
controls relevant to these objectives.  
This audit was conducted under the authority of RCW 43.09.260, which requires the Office of the  
State Auditor to examine the financial affairs of all local governments. Our audit involved  
performing procedures to obtain evidence about the Pool’s uses of public resources, compliance  
with state laws and regulations and its own policies and procedures, and internal controls over such  
matters.  
In keeping with general auditing practices, we do not examine every transaction, activity or area.  
Instead, based on our risk assessment for the year ended September 30, 2017, the areas examined  
were those representing the highest risk of fraud, loss, abuse, or noncompliance. The following  
areas were examined during this audit period:  
Compliance with risk pool solvency requirements  
Financial condition and fiscal sustainability  
Evaluated design of internal controls over claims handling, payroll and travel  
disbursements  
Open public meeting minutes  
Washington State Auditor’s Office  
Page 4  
 
RELATED REPORTS  
Financial  
Our opinion on the Pool’s financial statements is provided in a separate report, which includes the  
Pool’s  
financial  
statements.  
That  
report  
is  
available  
on  
our  
website,  
http://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch.  
Washington State Auditor’s Office  
Page 5  
 
INFORMATION ABOUT THE POOL  
The Washington Counties Risk Pool was established to provide its member counties with joint  
Pools and services including self-insurance, purchasing of insurance and contracting for or hiring  
of personnel to provide administrative services, claims handling and risk management.  
The Pool is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of one representative designated by each  
member county. Its day-to-day operations are administered by the Board-appointed Executive  
Director who reports to an 11-member Executive Committee and the Board. For the year under  
audit, the Pool operated on an annual operating budget of approximately $2.7 million and had  
eleven employees.  
Contact information related to this report  
Address:  
Washington Counties Risk Pool  
2558 R W Johnson Road S.W. Suite 106  
Tumwater, WA 98512-6103  
Contact:  
Sue Colbo, Accounting Officer  
(360) 292-4496  
Telephone:  
Website:  
www.wcrp.info  
Information current as of report publish date.  
Audit history  
You can find current and past audit reports for the Washington Counties Risk Pool at  
http://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch.  
Washington State Auditor’s Office  
Page 6  
 
ABOUT THE STATE AUDITOR’S OFFICE  
The State Auditor's Office is established in the state's Constitution and is part of the executive  
branch of state government. The State Auditor is elected by the citizens of Washington and serves  
four-year terms.  
We work with our audit clients and citizens to achieve our vision of government that works for  
citizens, by helping governments work better, cost less, deliver higher value, and earn greater  
public trust.  
In fulfilling our mission to hold state and local governments accountable for the use of public  
resources, we also hold ourselves accountable by continually improving our audit quality and  
operational efficiency and developing highly engaged and committed employees.  
As an elected agency, the State Auditor's Office has the independence necessary to objectively  
perform audits and investigations. Our audits are designed to comply with professional standards  
as well as to satisfy the requirements of federal, state, and local laws.  
Our audits look at financial information and compliance with state, federal and local laws on the  
part of all local governments, including schools, and all state agencies, including institutions of  
higher education. In addition, we conduct performance audits of state agencies and local  
governments as well as fraud, state whistleblower and citizen hotline investigations.  
The results of our work are widely distributed through a variety of reports, which are available on  
our website and through our free, electronic subscription service.  
We take our role as partners in accountability seriously, and provide training and technical  
assistance to governments, and have an extensive quality assurance Pool.  
Contact information for the State Auditor’s Office  
PublicRecords@sao.wa.gov  
(360) 902-0370  
Public Records requests  
Main telephone  
(866) 902-3900  
Toll-free Citizen Hotline  
Website  
www.sao.wa.gov  
Washington State Auditor’s Office  
Page 7