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County receives 2007 outside audit
By Mark Johnson
The Clay County Commission received the long-awaited 2007 audit last week, which was done by the outside firms Cochran Head Vick and Co. and Troutt, Beeman and Co.
The audit cites areas where corrective action has already been taken but also raises concerns multiple times in the management letter about the lack of response from Clay County Auditor Vic Hurlbert.
“We had limited access to the county auditor, which made things much more difficult,” Dave Cochran reported to the commissioners.
Cochran specifically referenced the management letter where the auditors said they received no response from Hurlbert’s office.
Among the areas of concern in the management letter were certain purchase orders that did not go through the proper approval process, bank accounts that can be opened or closed without the knowledge of those responsible for providing financial reporting and oversight, no formal monitoring of compliance with the county’s investment guidelines and employee files that contained outdated, incomplete or inaccurate information.
Other areas cited were a lack of internal resources to prepare or apply controls over the generation of financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted practices, a need to establish more effective account review and reconciliation policies and procedures, interfund balances (funds between departments) not being reconciled on a periodic basis and bank accounts that were not being reconciled.
Areas where auditors said corrective action was taken by county management include in the interfund receivable and payable accounts, activity in bond trust accounts and in the Recorder Preservation Fund and Tax Increment Fund.
Presiding Commissioner Ed Quick said that while he was glad to receive the audit, he didn’t consider it complete without a response from the county auditor.
“My main concern is that we’ve had so many problems between the county auditor and outside auditors, that we’re not going to be able to get an outside audit in the future,” he said.
Hurlbert declined to comment for this article.
Senior writer Mark Johnson can be reached at 781-4941 or mjohnson@npgco.com.
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The audit cites areas where corrective action has already been taken but also raises concerns multiple times in the management letter about the lack of response from Clay County Auditor Vic Hurlbert.
“We had limited access to the county auditor, which made things much more difficult,” Dave Cochran reported to the commissioners.
Cochran specifically referenced the management letter where the auditors said they received no response from Hurlbert’s office.
Among the areas of concern in the management letter were certain purchase orders that did not go through the proper approval process, bank accounts that can be opened or closed without the knowledge of those responsible for providing financial reporting and oversight, no formal monitoring of compliance with the county’s investment guidelines and employee files that contained outdated, incomplete or inaccurate information.
Other areas cited were a lack of internal resources to prepare or apply controls over the generation of financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted practices, a need to establish more effective account review and reconciliation policies and procedures, interfund balances (funds between departments) not being reconciled on a periodic basis and bank accounts that were not being reconciled.
Areas where auditors said corrective action was taken by county management include in the interfund receivable and payable accounts, activity in bond trust accounts and in the Recorder Preservation Fund and Tax Increment Fund.
Presiding Commissioner Ed Quick said that while he was glad to receive the audit, he didn’t consider it complete without a response from the county auditor.
“My main concern is that we’ve had so many problems between the county auditor and outside auditors, that we’re not going to be able to get an outside audit in the future,” he said.
Hurlbert declined to comment for this article.
Senior writer Mark Johnson can be reached at 781-4941 or mjohnson@npgco.com.