Santa Fe finance committee: FY2024 audit clean but eight findings remain, timelines set for fixes

Santa Fe Finance Committee members heard on Feb. 10 that the City of Santa Fereceived an unmodified (clean) opinion on its fiscal year 2024 financial statements and on three major federal programs, while auditors reported eight findings and outlined corrective-action timelines.

The auditwas presented by Emily Oster, finance director, and AJ Bowers, a partner with Carr, Riggs and Ingram. Oster said the city "submitted the FY '24 audit on time" and described the report as "a clean audit, meaning that the opinion is unmodified, which is the best opinion type that there is." Bowers told the committee the independent auditorsreport was submitted on the regulatory deadline and "then they released it on January 27."

The audit matters matter because an unmodified opinion indicates the financial statements are fairly presented under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), while the findings identify control, compliance and process areas staff must correct. The number of findings fell to eight in FY2024, a 38% decrease from 13 findings the prior year; auditors noted the city resolved nine of those 13 prior-year findings (69%). Over four audits (FY2021through FY2024) the city resolved a total of 37 findings, the auditors said.

Most of the FY2024 findings relate to internal…