Gilliam County court says $1,000,000 accounting discrepancy fixed, seeks outside CPA help before audit
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Summary
County officials told the court a roughly $1,000,000 tax-accounting discrepancy has been corrected after a January accounting-system conversion; auditors flagged remaining cash-on-hand and fund-balance entries and the court directed staff to seek outside CPA assistance familiar with their accounting software.
Chair opened the session’s unfinished-business update by saying an accounting system conversion to Cassell in January 2025 had not been "a smooth transition" and reported the county has identified and corrected an entry that left approximately $1,000,000 under-allocated in tax accounts. The chair said auditors then found additional issues that must be resolved before the fiscal year 2024–25 audit can begin.
The county’s work plan described two primary items the auditor flagged: cash-on-hand (imported into Cassell as "cash allocations") that requires reconciliation, and fund-balance entries that were not proper carry-forwards from the 06/30/2024 ending balance. The chair said Brooklyn (treasurer/staff) is building a spreadsheet to identify and fix cash allocation differences and that Nathan will work with the auditor (Brad) to reassign incorrect fund-balance entries.
"The entry that was in question approximately 1000000 dollars under, under allocated in tax accounts has been corrected," the chair said. He told the court the auditor indicated those two items must be corrected before the auditor can lawfully commence the audit and recommended hiring a CPA with governmental accounting experience, preferably someone familiar with Cassell.
Commissioners discussed timing and cost. The chair asked staff to contact neighboring counties that also use Cassell (Sherman, Jefferson and Columbia counties) and to ask the auditor for recommended firms. The chair said the county would put the accounting update on every agenda until the audit is complete and the auditor has confirmed the books are clean.
The court did not take formal action at this meeting to hire a firm; the chair said the need for an outside CPA would be driven by the expected cost and the county’s procurement thresholds.
What’s next: staff will continue reconciling cash allocations, work with the auditor to correct fund-balance entries, and return with a proposed path to hire outside accounting help if needed.
