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Audit committee outlines 2026 audit plan, ARPA closeouts and inventory reviews
Summary
Fayetteville's audit committee reviewed policy updates and the 2026 audit schedule, flagged ARPA subrecipient closeouts requiring site visits, and said staff will coordinate with external auditors on a June presentation to council.
FAYETTEVILLE — The audit committee heard a broad update on ongoing internal-audit work and the 2026 plan, with staff emphasizing policy drafting, inventory counts and final reporting for ARPA-funded projects.
Speaker 1, who leads the internal-audit program, said senior management has asked auditors to update multiple policies across travel, procurement and cash handling and that the workload affects many departments. "It's going to be a continual project," Speaker 1 said, adding that several policy drafts are already under review and that some departments lack standard operating procedures.
The committee reviewed the 2026 audit calendar. Speaker 1 said quarter 1 will focus on routine audit schedules and an annual retirement-savings review; quarter 2 will coincide with the external auditors and include work on financial statements and ARPA subrecipient closeouts; quarter 3 will emphasize grant reviews and water/sewer inventory; and quarter 4 will wrap up inventory and petty-cash counts. "I left some open room in quarter 2 because of all the policy stuff that is currently ongoing," Speaker 1 said.
Speaker 2 described ARPA-funded construction projects coming to a close and said final reports and site visits will be required for subrecipient files. Chantelle Darny, the accountant overseeing ARPA subrecipients, was identified as a primary contact for those closeouts. "We're going to be needing to basically compile final reports, and that's going to entail site visits," Speaker 2 said.
The committee discussed coordination with external auditors. Speaker 4 said the city is in the third year of a five-year external-audit contract, leaving an estimated two years remaining on the current agreement. Committee members asked staff to coordinate audit timing so the committee's presentation to city council can be scheduled in June when auditors are available.
On inventory work, Speaker 1 said the airports inventory account has been started and that fleet, recycling and petty-cash counts are planned through the end of the year. Speaker 1 also said procurement staff are transitioning p-card controls from paper batches to electronic processes and that audit follow-up may occur after the conversion.
Committee members noted construction oversight is a recurring concern as the city prepares a bond for voters. Speaker 2 said major construction projects have assigned city or project engineers who inspect work and sign off on invoices before reimbursement, but the city has not typically contracted separate firms solely to perform construction audits.
The meeting concluded with scheduling and personnel items, including thanks to committee member Charles for his service as he prepares to roll off next year. The committee adjourned with staff tasked to follow up on ARPA closeouts, inventories and scheduling the council presentation.
