Outside audit: Harford County receives unmodified opinion; no material weaknesses reported

Bill Early of CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) presented the results of Harford County's fiscal-year financial-statement audit to the County Council. CLA issued an unmodified opinion on the county's financial statements for the period ending June 30, 2025, and reported no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in financial reporting.

Early said CLA performs the audit under a five-year RFP contract and also conducts the single-audit of federal awards; this year the single-audit will review federal transit and highway planning and construction programs, and its report is due to the federal government by March 31. He said draft OMB guidance and federal scheduling changes delayed issuance but the single-audit work had resumed.

Early described two recent GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) changes the county implemented: (1) a revised approach to recording compensated-absence liabilities and (2) new financial-statement disclosures for concentrations or constraints that might affect future revenue (for example, the hypothetical closure of a large local employer). Early said the county had no required disclosures of revenue concentration this year but that reserves for "incurred but not reported" claims increased by about $11,000,000.

Council members asked follow-up questions about pending litigation disclosures and the reserves increase; Early said litigation matters appear in separate estimates and the reserve increase reflected historical trends in claim payouts. CLA will finalize federal-award work and issue the single-audit report in January.