Independence audit: outside firm issues clean opinion, notes single-audit procurement lapse and recommends system upgrades

Chester Moyer of audit firm Reuben Brown told the City of Independence Audit and Finance Committee on Feb. 11 that the firm issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the city’s fiscal year 2025 financial statements, covering the period July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025.

Moyer said the firm’s opinion covers each opinion unit required under auditing standards—governmental activities, business-type activities, the general fund, the TIF debt service fund and the city’s major proprietary funds such as water and power. “We want to report that the city has received a clean opinion on the financial statement,” Moyer said.

Why it matters: a clean audit signals that, under generally accepted auditing standards and government auditing standards, the audited financial statements contain no material misstatements and supports transparency and credit-related measures such as bond ratings, city officials said.

Single-audit finding and corrective action: Moyer said the city expended nearly $15,000,000 in federal funds during the audit period and that the single-audit identified one instance of noncompliance related to procurement. “There is 1 matter that we would report to you and that’s … one instance of noncompliance … around procurement … we did not see evidence of the suspension or debarment … for 2 of 5 vendors that we had selected,” Moyer said. Management’s corrective action plan is included in the audit report, and staff told the committee the procurement checks have been corrected going forward.

Audit scope, standards and changes: The auditors noted they coordinate with other firms (for example, the arena’s auditor) when outside entities roll into the city’s statements. The engagement was performed under AICPA standards and the Office of Management and Budget’s government auditing standards (the “Yellow Book”). Moyer also noted the city implemented GASB Statement No. 101 on compensated absences this year; the change did not have a material impact on the financial statements but required new estimates about how much accrued leave will be used versus paid out.

Recommendations and operational observations: While the audit disclosed no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses in internal control, Reuben Brown offered operational recommendations to strengthen processes: migrate capital-asset records into the city’s Munis financial system, perform more frequent reconciliations of utility billing to improve testing and accuracy (staff reported daily CIS imports began recently), and shorten the time to close financial statements to increase timeliness. Moyer said the firm devoted roughly 1,000 hours to the engagement, with about 20 staff involved and a core group of six doing the bulk of the work.

Independence and contract timing: Committee members asked about auditor independence and selection. Moyer described the typical RFP and council-involvement process for selecting auditors and noted that his firm serves many government clients, which he said helps maintain independence. Staff said Reuben Brown is engaged through the fiscal-year 2026 audit; the city’s procurement and council would be involved in any future longer-term engagement decision.

Next steps: Staff and the auditor will present a broader summary to the full city council at a study session to be scheduled in March; staff said they will post the final date. The committee then adjourned.

—Reported from the Feb. 11 Audit and Finance Committee meeting of the City of Independence. All quotes come from the committee transcript.