Auditors give Matanuska-Susitna Borough a clean opinion for FY 2024; no material weaknesses

Steve Wadley of Altman & Rogers presented the firm’s audit results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly, reporting an unmodified (clean) opinion on the borough’s financial statements and no material weaknesses identified in the sampled internal-control testing.

Wadley described the audit procedures used, including review of the trial balance and supporting documentation, tests of accounts payable, cash receipts, payroll, billing, and other samples. He said materiality thresholds varied by fund (general fund threshold noted at $2,500,000; school capital project fund at $240,000; RSA capital project fund at $380,000; port fund at $10,000; solid waste at $110,000; other funds at $250,000). For federal compliance, auditors tested four programs (economic adjustment assistance, Coronavirus Local Recovery Funds, Local Assistance Funds, and Homeland Security Grant) and found compliance in the sampled programs.

Why it matters: A clean audit supports the borough’s financial credibility with bond markets, grantors and taxpayers. Finance staff said the results reflect preparation and internal controls. Auditor Wadley cautioned that audit sampling cannot guarantee no deficiencies exist, but that the work found no reportable weaknesses in the tested areas and described the process for final management representation and report issuance.

Assembly members asked about how the borough’s internal controls compare to peers and how the team achieved a clean opinion. Wadley credited strong segregation of duties and multiple checks and balances in the borough’s finance operations.

The finance director later described related bond-sale plans and refunding savings the borough expects to realize; those financing items were discussed in the meeting’s later agenda and acted on separately.