Independent auditors deliver clean opinion on Florence’s FY24 financial statements; segregation-of-duties noted

Grant Davis, partner with Moulden Jessen CPAs (auditors), presented the city’s Fiscal Year 2024 audit and annual comprehensive financial report. The auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the city’s financial statements, a government-auditing report noting two internal-control matters, and a clean federal single-audit opinion for the major programs reviewed (notably CDBG and the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program, representing roughly 85% of audited federal expenditures).

Davis summarized the two internal-control matters. One related to how inventory had been recorded in prior years; staff corrected that as a one-time adjustment. The other was a segregation-of-duties weakness in the finance office, a common finding in small finance shops, driven in part by a small staff size and turnover; auditors noted the finance office has three staff members and that management is seeking to hire a finance director to improve internal controls.

Davis highlighted positive financial indicators: general-fund fund balance increased by about $1.7 million in FY24, yielding roughly 160 days (about 5½ months) of operating reserves based on $59 million in general-fund expenditures. Davis also noted the city expended roughly $3.7 million in federal funds in FY24, of which about $3.3 million was audited.

Nut graf: Auditors delivered a clean opinion on the city’s financial statements and federal single-audit while recommending improvements in segregation of duties and noting one corrected inventory recording issue; the audit was previously reviewed by the council’s audit/finance committee.