Auburn auditors issue clean opinion on FY2023–24 financial statements; single audit also clean

Auditors from I Bailey told the Auburn City Council on March 2025 that they issued an unmodified ("clean") opinion on the City of Auburn's fiscal year 202324 financial statements and a clean single-audit report, Finance Director Gretchen Johnson said during a presentation.

The finding is significant because a clean opinion means the auditors concluded the city's statements fairly present its financial position under generally accepted accounting principles. I Bailey partner James Ramsey said auditors issued the financial-statement report on Dec. 30, 2024, and the single-audit opinion in January 2025.

Ramsey said the engagement covered the city's financial statements, the schedule of federal expenditures for the single audit, and the State Controller's financial transactions report. "The ACRA opinion has an unmodified or clean opinion. This is the highest level of assurance you can get for your financial statements," Ramsey said. He added the audit team performed interim procedures in July and the final fieldwork in October 2024.

The auditors reported six corrected misstatements, which Ramsey said is common in a first-year engagement with a new firm, and no uncorrected misstatements. The audit also produced four findings: one financial-reporting finding tied to a prior-period adjustment and three single-audit findings related to allowable costs and procurement and reporting controls. Ramsey said management cooperated with the auditors and corrected the items during the engagement.

Johnson said the audit marked the completion of the city's first-year work with the new external firm, and she thanked staff for assembling records and working through the requests. Council members praised the work and the city's increased transparency: one councilmember thanked staff and auditors for correcting issues and delivering timely reports.

Ramsey emphasized the scope and standards that guided the work, noting auditors apply generally accepted auditing standards, Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS, the "Yellow Book") and the Uniform Guidance for single audits. He also cautioned that audits provide reasonable, not absolute, assurance and involve judgment on estimates such as pension and OPEB liabilities.

The audit packet provided to the council included the independent auditor's report, a GAGAS internal-control letter and the single-audit reports. Ramsey told the council the next regular audit schedule would likely bring auditors back in the fall of 2025 for the next fiscal-year engagement.

The council received the presentation; no formal council action was required or taken on the audit presentation itself.

Ending: The firm and city will follow up on the four audit findings in staff reports; the auditors expected to return to the council with the next-year audit schedule in mid-to-late 2025.