State Auditor gives Minneapolis unmodified opinions; committee approves audit charter and hears offices work plan
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Summary
The Office of the State Auditor issued unmodified opinions on the citys and park boards 2024 financial statements; the Audit Committee approved proposed updates to the audit charter and heard the city auditors update on ongoing audits, staffing and open issues.
The Office of the State Auditor told the Minneapolis Audit Committee on Dec. 8 that it issued unmodified (clean) opinions on the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024.
"Our opinions for both the park board and the city were unmodified, which means that it's a clean opinion," the state auditor said, noting the work was performed in accordance with U.S. auditing standards and uniform guidance for federal award programs.
The state auditor said the city's 2024 management and compliance report contained four findings: two related to internal controls (including a prior-period adjustment), and two related to federal award programs (one involving suspension and debarment and another involving subrecipient monitoring). Management provided a corrective action plan that the auditors will follow up on during the next audit cycle.
City Controller George Hargrove and Deputy Controller Rob Lang described actions management is taking to address findings: procurement will implement vendor checks for suspension and debarment, CPED has added an accounting manager and regular reconciliation meetings to address land-value accounting, and the controllers office has developed an internal review process to address SOC 1 Type 2 reporting gaps for hosted financial systems used by city entities such as the convention center.
Separately, City Auditor Robert Timmerman presented proposed updates to the audit charter that had been reviewed with the city attorney; Chair Payne moved to approve the charter, a member seconded, and a roll call recorded five ayes, after which Payne said the item carried and the charter would be signed and published.
Timmerman also updated the committee on in-progress work from the Office of the City Auditor: ongoing fieldwork for MPD body-worn cameras and automated license-plate-reader systems, after-action reviews of two officer-involved incidents (with a consultant report now expected at the April Audit Committee meeting), a new ShotSpotter performance audit, procurement phase 2 focused on contract controls (including Meet Minneapolis), an enterprise risk assessment that has involved roughly 35 departmental meetings, and staffing increases in the auditors office.
Audit staff reported closing six previously open issues and adding seven items at the current meeting, leaving about 10 open issues and 22 overdue items overall; audit staff said many overdue items have management updates and that remediation timing depends on departmental priorities and resources.
With no further business, the committee adjourned.
