Ways & Means accepts Eaton County's 2024 audit; auditors report clean opinion

EATON COUNTY, Mich. — The Eaton County Ways and Means Committee accepted the county's 2024 financial audit Apr. 11 after a presentation from Raymond James (audit principal Nate Balderman), who reported an unmodified opinion and no repeat findings on the single-audit federal programs reviewed.

What the auditor said: Nate Balderman told the committee the county's financial statements were "fairly stated in all material respects," a technical way of saying Raymond issued an unmodified (clean) opinion. Balderman said the audit included the county's component units (the county road commission and health and rehabilitation services facility) and that auditors rely on other auditors for those components.

Findings and comments: Balderman said the audit required implementation of a recently revised footnote disclosure rule for changes in major funds. He also warned management about an upcoming, more complex Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) standard on compensated absences that will require reviewing union agreements and payroll practices and will increase government-wide liabilities ("Liabilities are gonna go up") though it generally will not affect budgeting or governmental-fund accounting.

The audit team reported no findings for the current year's financial statements or the single audit; prior-year findings for material audit adjustments and procurement suspension/ debarment procedures were cleared. The firm included a management suggestion (not a formal finding) about improving a drain-clearing reconciliation.

Committee action: After questions from commissioners and staff, the committee moved and supported a resolution to accept the audit report for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2024. The motion passed on voice vote; the committee also directed staff to present more detail later in the meeting on revenues and expenditures from the audit report.

Why it matters: A clean audit gives the county, its departments and outside stakeholders reasonable assurance that financial statements can be relied upon for budgeting and policy decisions. Auditors said the report is not a fraud audit and cannot guarantee no fraud occurred, but the audit provides reasonable assurance about the accuracy of the reported numbers.

Next steps: Administration and finance staff will provide additional budget-detail briefings to commissioners from the audited statements, and management will follow up on the single management suggestion related to the drain-clearing reconciliation.