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County auditor presents 2024 financial report: clean opinion but single-audit weakness on procurement
Summary
The county's 2024 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report received an unmodified (clean) opinion, but the single-audit found material weaknesses tied to procurement/documentation for certain state grant expenditures; auditor and external firm outlined corrective steps and staffing needs.
El Paso County's 2024 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (ACFR) received an unmodified opinion from external auditors, the county auditor reported July 28 — a clean audit of the financial statements — but the single-audit (grant compliance) contained a material weakness tied to procurement documentation for certain state programs.
The nut graf: External auditors told commissioners the major issue involved procurement and contract routing for purchases charged to a state-funded program, which repeated from a prior year because audit timing and contract practices left insufficient documentation for federal/state grant compliance. The county has started additional financial-management training, new monitoring reports in Purchasing, and plans to add an experienced senior audit/accountant position.
County Auditor Barbara Parker and representatives from audit firm Gibson, Ruddock Patterson summarized the results. The audit team issued a qualified opinion on compliance for specific state-funded programs (BPU and bullet-resistant shield programs) because purchases used the same vendors implicated in prior-year findings and the prior-year corrective actions were not fully implemented before the purchases were made. Parker described 11 current-year findings and 7 prior-year comments, largely related to procurement thresholds, contract routing, and documentation required by uniform guidance.
External audit partner Vanessa Alarcon said the financial statements themselves are materially correct and the county received a clean opinion. She noted one previously identified item (data-collection form submission) was corrected on time for 2024. Both the auditor and external firm urged more staffing in financial reporting and internal controls to meet new GASB accounting standards and improve contract review processes.
Commissioners asked about timelines and steps. Parker said Purchasing has implemented threshold monitoring reports, financial-management training has already started, and the auditor's office is seeking an additional senior audit accountant to sustain year-end processes and reduce the risk of repeat findings. The court took no budgetary action at the meeting; staff said they would return with hiring requests and policy updates as needed.
