Arizona Auditor General reports seven FY2024 findings but notes improved county reserves
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Summary
The Arizona Auditor General presented Greenlee County’s FY2024 audit, reporting a modified opinion limited to capital assets and supplies, seven findings including control weaknesses over inventory, payroll approvals, credit-card purchases and IT security, and a strong overall net position of $25.7 million as of June 30, 2024.
Catherine Edwards Decker, director of the Financial Audit Division for the Arizona Auditor General’s office, told the Greenlee County Board of Supervisors that the office issued a modified opinion for fiscal year 2024 limited to equipment and supplies but otherwise gave unmodified opinions for the county’s financial statements.
“We modified our opinion over capital assets for equipment and machinery and also modified our opinion over supplies inventory and the other aggregated fund information because we were not able to obtain sufficient and appropriate audit evidence over those balances,” Edwards Decker said during the board meeting.
Auditors reported seven findings for fiscal year 2024. Erica Vargas, the audit senior on the engagement, summarized several of the matters auditors flagged: the county issued its annual financial report eight months later than GAAP requires and its initial financial statements contained errors; the county did not perform adequate inventory and recordkeeping for machinery, equipment and unused supplies; and nine hourly employees were able to self-approve timesheets, including what auditors recorded as $71,737 in overtime charges.
“To correct this finding, we recommend the county follow its existing capital assets policy to perform a complete physical inventory of its capital assets located at all its departments at least once every two years,” Vargas said. She also urged limiting timekeeping system permissions and requiring supervisory review of every hourly employee’s timesheet.
Auditors also reported weaknesses in controls over credit-card purchases (noting $53,704 in purchases lacking required documentation), IT risk-management and data-security controls, and a single-audit timeliness issue: the county submitted a 6/30/2020 single audit to the federal clearinghouse eight months late. Auditors gave recommended corrective actions and recorded anticipated target dates ranging from Nov. 30, 2025, to March 31, 2027.
Catherine Edwards Decker emphasized cooperation from county staff during the audit, singling out Renee and Derek for assistance. “Greenlee County has been wonderful to work with,” she said. The auditors also noted they publish reports publicly on their website for comparison with other local governments.
County Administrator Derek Ripert acknowledged the findings and pledged follow-up. The board thanked the audit team for its work and said it would review the recommendations and corrective-action timelines.
The Auditor General’s presentation covered the county’s annual financial report, the internal control and compliance report, and the federal single audit report; the auditors reported clean opinions on the federal programs they tested despite the single-audit timeliness finding.
Next steps: auditors recommended specific policy and control changes with target correction dates included in the audit report; the board committed to reviewing and tracking corrective actions.
