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State Controller's Office adopts 2022–23 CIRM audit after quality-control review
Summary
The Citizens Financial Accountability Oversight Committee unanimously adopted the 2022–23 independent financial audit of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) on Dec. 18, 2024, after the State Controller's Audit Division concluded the auditor's work met professional standards.
The Citizens Financial Accountability Oversight Committee, chaired by State Controller Malia M. Cohen, unanimously adopted the 2022–23 independent financial audit of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) at a Dec. 18 meeting in Sacramento.
Macias Gini & O'Connell (MGO) engagement partner Craig Carter presented the audit and told the committee that the firm issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on CIRM's financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2023. "We were able to obtain enough audit evidence to render an unmodified opinion," Carter said during his presentation.
The audit covers CIRM's balance sheet, revenues and expenditures across Prop 71 and Prop 14 funds, and related budgetary statements. Carter also noted the engagement included supplemental reports on internal control and compliance under government-auditing standards.
Kimberly Tarvin, Audit Division Chief at the State Controller's Office, presented the office's independent quality-control review of MGO's work. Tarvin said the Controller's report (issued Oct. 14, 2024) concluded the auditor's work was performed "in accordance with the required professional auditing standards and the California Business and Professions Code." She described the QC review as an additional layer of assurance that the independent CPA firm met professional and statutory requirements.
Committee members asked auditors about related-party transactions, timing of review reports, and why licensing and royalties fund activity had been limited. Auditors explained related-party transactions are disclosures of transactions that may not be at arm's length and that grant payments to grantees are milestone-based, which can delay expenditures when milestones are not met. On timing, Tarvin recommended coordinating fiscal close and audit schedules to enable earlier QC reviews in the annual cycle.
The CFAOC voted to adopt the audit following the presentations and the clerk's roll call. The minutes from the May 29, 2024 meeting were also adopted earlier in the session.
The adoption is procedural: it places the audit and the Controller's QC review in the public record and affirms the committee's oversight role. Committee members and staff said next steps include ongoing follow-up on audit findings and continued coordination with CIRM leadership.
The CFAOC will reconvene next year; no public commenters were on the phone lines during the audit items.
