The Legal Service Corporation’s Board of Directors approved on June 15 a revised version of the Accounting Guide for LSC Recipients, which sets forth the Corporation’s accounting, financial management and reporting guidelines for LSC-funded legal aid programs. The revised guide, last updated in 1997, becomes effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, which is expected in the coming week.

The revisions to the guide address subjects such as new internal control provisions for electronic banking transactions and contracting, a significantly revised internal control checklist, financial oversight concepts from the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 and key practices to enhance fraud prevention.

The revised guide is the result of a year-long effort by LSC’s Fiscal Advisory Group, composed of LSC staff and eight chief financial officers from legal aid programs: Laura Brown of Legal Action of Wisconsin, Ann Gorman of South Jersey Legal Services, Bettina Kaplan of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, Mel Miller of Florida’s Bay Area Legal Services, Mary Ortegon of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Steve Pelletier of Washington’s Northwest Justice Project, Paul Saggese of Ohio’s Advocates for Basic Legal Equality and Greg Trautwein of the Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota Corporation.

Accounting Guide for LSC Recipients [PDF]
 

From LSC Updates, July 1, 2010