Who built this?

Howard was created by Donnie Clapp, Grant/Program/Project Manager at Region 3 Education Service Center in Victoria, Texas.

The name "Howard" was chosen because it sounds like an accountant, it's Donnie's middle name, and it has "how" in it — people ask Howard how things work.

Why does this exist?

After years of working in school finance, I noticed how much institutional knowledge lives only in people's heads. Interpreting FASRG, navigating EDGAR, and understanding the Uniform Guidance can be overwhelming — especially for new business managers or when you just need a quick answer.

Howard makes this knowledge accessible to school business professionals when they need it.

What does Howard know?

• FASRG v20 — Texas Financial Accountability System Resource Guide (v19 kept for historical questions)
• EDGAR & 2 CFR 200 — federal grant regulations and the Uniform Guidance
• TEA General & Fiscal Guidelines — 2025 edition, plus 2021 for history
• LASO Cycles 3 & 4 — program guidelines, FAQs, and errata for every initiative
• State funding — FSP overview, Summary of Finances guide, HB 2 funding changes, budgeting handbook, FIRST
• EMAT — instructional materials certification, IMTA funds, disbursements
• ASCENDER business documentation — the complete business-office wiki: payroll, finance, budget, purchasing, personnel, asset management, warehouse, and more (4,000+ pages)

If the answer isn't in those documents, Howard says so rather than guessing.

Who runs it?

Howard is built and maintained by 👏 Applause Consulting, Donnie's small consulting practice: marketing and strategy, websites that work, and practical software and automation for small organizations. Howard is the kind of practical tool Applause likes to build, made to take the tribal knowledge that lives in experienced business managers' heads and put it within reach of everyone.

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