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Audit committee reports ongoing procurement audit; financial statement audit starts next week
Summary
The Town of Buchanan audit committee updated the council on the financial statement audit by PKF and an in-progress internal audit of procurement processes conducted by CLA and CohnReznick; the procurement audit will deliver preliminary management recommendations this summer.
The Town of Buchanan Audit Committee updated the Town Council June 18 on two audit tracks: the annual financial statement audit and an internal audit of procure-to-pay processes.
Robert Fryer, Audit Committee chair, told the council the town’s external auditor, PKF, will begin planning with the finance department the week of June 25 and that the firm had been re-engaged last year for a three-year term. He said PKF expects to complete fieldwork and file the audited financial statements on the same schedule as the prior year.
On internal audit, Bill Bradley described work underway with CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) and CohnReznick. Bradley said CLA is auditing procurement policies, purchase-card controls, vendor management and accounts payable procedures; auditors have interviewed roughly 40 town and school staff, are conducting sampling tests and expect preliminary drafts for town management around July 11 and for school management around July 25.
Fryer also reported that a master services agreement with CohnReznick has been finalized and signed, enabling that firm to begin work when scheduled. The committee said the audit scope is operational (procure-to-pay), not a financial statement audit, and the work may identify process, policy or system changes to speed operations or reduce control risk.
The committee summarized recent history: the town closed the prior year’s audit with a clean opinion and approved financial statements, and the new financial statement audit begins immediately after the fiscal year end. The procurement audit is more expansive than past internal reviews, which the committee said had been targeted, one-off projects rather than an enterprise-wide end-to-end review.
Council members asked whether procurement reviews would examine synergies between town and schools and whether contracts and capital acquisition practices fell within scope. Committee members said the current scope covers operating procurement end-to-end for town and schools and includes contracts other than capital projects; capital procurement reviews could be a subsequent project in the next fiscal year.
No formal vote was required or taken; the audit committee said it will return to the council with the internal audit’s management letter and any recommended actions when testing is complete.
