Audit committee accepts three clean audits, renews Altman Rogers contract for one year

The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly Audit Committee accepted unmodified audit opinions for three entities and approved a one-year renewal of the external audit contract with Altman Rogers and Company at a meeting on Jan. 16.

Auditor Brian Kupelik, a partner with Altman Rogers and Company, told the committee that "all 3 entities were clean audit opinions," meaning the firm issued unmodified opinions on the financial statements for the Interior Alaska Natural Gas Utility (IGU), the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Kupelik said the firm also issued unmodified opinions on federal and state compliance for the borough and the school district; the IGU was not subject to a federal single-audit this year.

The committee was given an overview of audit scope and methods. Kupelik described a testwork-based approach that focuses audit procedures on areas of higher risk and on transactions above materiality thresholds. He said materiality was "maybe somewhere in like the 300,000-ish range for the borough," with a similar but slightly smaller threshold for the school district and…