Official: State cannot ‘independently verify’ cash balances after Luma transition

An Idaho state budget official told legislative budget writers Wednesday that the state cannot independently verify its cash balances following the state’s transition to the Luma business and accounting systems on July 1.

Keith Bybee, the Idaho Legislative Services Office’s budget and policy manager, discussed the situation during the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee meeting on Wednesday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise.

“Thus far, we’ve been unable to independently verify those cash balances,” Bybee said during the meeting.

On July 1, the state launched the Luma system, a cloud-based system that centralizes all of the state’s budget, revenue, procurement, financial management, human resources and other systems for all state agencies and all employees. Luma replaces legacy business systems first launched in 1987 and 1988 that had exceeded their usable lifespan and were vulnerable to security threats, state officials have said. 

But since July 1, uneven training of state employees has hampered the launch, and state employees and legislators have attributed some process and data entry errors to difficulties using Luma.

On Wednesday, Bybee told the Sun the problem with independently verifying cash balances is related to reporting from the Luma system. Bybee said the state’s cash balance is expected to be $416 million. Bybee said the money is there, but the issue is independently verifying it.

“Right now what we’re trying to do is independently verify that that cash balance is the correct cash balance moving forward,” Bybee told JFAC.

The Sun has reached out to the Idaho State Controller’s Office, which oversees Luma, for comment on JFAC’s discussion on the verification of cash balances.

Idaho’s Luma system has caused headaches relating revenue reports since its launch six months ago

The independently verified cash balances are not the only budget report that was unavailable or delayed following the transition to Luma. For several months after Luma’s launch, the state was unable to produce the official comparative revenue reports and the monthly budget monitor that allow legislators and the public to track the revenues against historic collections and projections.

After Wednesday’s meeting, JFAC co-chair Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, told the Idaho Capital Sun that independently verified cash balances would normally be available to legislators and JFAC members by the time legislative sessions begin in January.

“The change of the system, from the old system to the new (Luma) system has caused us to have some new processes, new ways of reporting, and so we are fine-tuning the numbers we have this year maybe in a way that we don’t in previous years under the old system,” Horman said in an interview Wednesday. 

In response to the Luma transition and reporting changes, Horman said some legislators are now participating in weekly meetings to track the Luma implementation, fixes and related timelines.

“The Controller’s Office and Treasurer’s Office have made significant progress regarding the fixes,” Horman said. “We continue to work to make sure that every single number we talk about in JFAC is 100% accurate.”