Sarah Slaughter is a director with Baker Tilly’s energy and utilities practice. She specializes in providing financial auditing, accounting and consulting services to municipal utilities and joint action agencies. Sarah leads executive-level accounting management outsourcing engagements and has experience in utility rate consulting as well as developing revenue requirements, cost of service allocations, rate designs and connection fee calculations.
- Manages numerous financial and compliance audits of enterprise funds, including municipal electric, water, sewer and stormwater utilities, transit organizations, electric cooperatives and joint action agencies
- Provides outsourced and co-sourced internal audit services, including financial, compliance, operational, information technology and performance audits, fraud mitigation and advisory work
- Oversees consulting and internal audit projects, such as enterprise risk management, billing process and improvement, hedging program, revenue lease reviews, and joint contract billing and compliance reviews
- Leads outsourced accounting management projects, including management of client staff and oversight of clients’ independent system operator market settlement procedures
- Performs federal and state single audits and audits in accordance with Government Auditing Standards
- Develops electric, water and sewer revenue requirements, cost of service allocations and rate design for utilities
- Performs documentation of policies, procedures and flowcharts for finance and accounting functions and other business areas
- Provides attest services, including audits, agreed-upon procedures, comfort work and compliance
- Performs contract compliance reviews for utility and transportation clients
- Serves as a member of the firm-on-firm peer review team
- Leads in-house training for utility clients
- American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
- American Public Power Association (APPA)
- Texas Public Power Association
- Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA)
- Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants
- “Financial reporting, recent and upcoming GASB pronouncements and grant and revenue reporting,” Lower Valley Water District, 2023
- “Pension and OPEB Accounting”, Baker Tilly advance assurance academy, 2022
- “Accounting for GASB 87, Leases,” Baker Tilly public sector update, 2020 and 2021
- “Single audit compliance,” American Public Transportation Association, 2019
- “FERC accounting basics,” Lower Colorado River Authority, 2018
- “GASB update including GASB 75 on OPEB accounting and reporting,” Baker Tilly Utility University, 2018 and 2017
- “Public sector industry update,” Baker Tilly Utility University, 2017
- “Agreed-upon procedures,” Baker Tilly webinar, 2017
- “FERC accounting basics,” New Braunfels Utilities, 2016
- “GASB update 2016,” TSCPA Energy Conference, 2016
- “Current issues in accounting,” APPA Business and Financial Conference, 2015
- “Advanced utility accounting manual,” APPA, contributing author
- APPA, Business and Financial Conference
- TXCPA Annual Energy Conference
- GASB, FASB and AICPA updates, Annual
- Single audit training