Independent auditors give Peachtree City an unmodified opinion; council praised staff for clean single audit

Mauldin & Jenkins partner David Erwin told the Peachtree City Council on Tuesday that the firm issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the city's FY 2024 annual comprehensive financial report and reported no audit findings.

"We are issuing a clean or unmodified opinion on this year," David Erwin said during the presentation. He told the council auditors also issued two compliance reports, including a single audit required when an entity spends more than $750,000 in federal funds; the city reported approximately $1,900,000 in federal expenditures and received a clean single audit opinion.

Erwin highlighted key financial totals from the ACFR: total assets and deferred outflows of resources of about $271,000,000; capital assets and accumulated depreciation of roughly $157,075,000; cash and investments of about $93,300,000; and total liabilities and deferred inflows near $58,800,000. Revenues were approximately $90,300,000 with expenses near $79,000,000, producing an ending net position of about $212,200,000, Erwin said.

Erwin also noted the city’s government funds and general fund activity. The general fund recorded total revenues of approximately $53,900,000 and total expenditures of about $46,700,000. Public safety expenditures represented a large share of general fund spending, about $23,700,000. The general fund finished the year with an ending fund balance of about $33.9 million, of which roughly $33 million was unassigned and available for general use — an amount equal to about 8.5 months of operating expenditures, Erwin said.

Erwin said the Government Finance Officers Association again awarded the city the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for FY 2023, the 36th consecutive year the city has earned the certificate. He encouraged council and the public to read the management’s discussion and analysis for narrative context in the ACFR.

Councilmember Johnson asked a technical question about accounting standards after the presentation. Erwin clarified that the audit opinion is issued in accordance with GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) and the reporting standards applied are those of GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board). Council members thanked staff — including CFO Kelly Bush and Finance staff — for their work producing the report and supporting a clean audit.