Legislative auditors report progress, highlight uncorrected findings and delays from new financial system

April Renfro, director of Legislative Audits at the Legislative Services Office, told the Joint Finance and Appropriation Committee on Jan. 7 that auditors have reduced the backlog of very old uncorrected findings and are reporting fewer multi‑year open items, but several substantive issues remain open and the office faces schedule delays tied to a new statewide financial system.

Renfro said the audit office now has open findings covering the past four years (down from roughly five years in prior reports) and that about 70% of the uncorrected findings are from the current reporting period — meaning follow‑up work has not yet occurred. “We really only have 30% that the entities have not been able to get their findings corrected in a reasonable amount of time,” she said.

The auditors also told the committee they expect delays in two key deadlines this year. The office audits the state’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) and the single audit that reports federal expenditures. Renfro said the ACFR normally arrives from the state controller in time for auditors to complete their opinion within the statutory schedule, but this year the controller’s office delivered financial statements very late. “We were supposed to get them in November… we got them December 30,” Renfro said. Because of that late delivery and additional IT issues, the office estimates it cannot meet its usual December 31 ACFR…