Contracted auditor says Champaign County’s 2024 financials showed a $25.5 million cash overstatement; outside audit remains incomplete

Orion Smith, a contracted accountant working through Gardner & Company, told the Champaign County Board during a fiscal‑year audit update that the county’s 2024 financial statements contained major reconciliation errors and remain under review by outside auditors.

Smith said the county’s year‑end financials showed roughly $46 million in cash while bank balances indicated about $21 million, producing an overstatement of approximately $25.5 million. He described additional issues including about $7.8 million in unreconciled receivables and numerous inter‑fund posting errors that required correcting journal entries and transfers between trust/agency and highway funds.

The presentation traced problems back to incomplete work papers and turnover in 2018–2020, a difficult transition to the Munis financial system, and repeated deputy‑level staffing changes. Smith said he initially helped clean up audits in 2018–2021, left the auditor’s office in 2022, and returned under contract in May 2025 to assist with the 2024 trial balance and remediation work. He said the trial balance has now been submitted to CLA, the county’s outside auditor.

Why it matters: Until CLA completes its field work and issues a final audit opinion, the county remains at risk of stop‑pay enforcement and limits on grant activity. County staff told the board that Moody’s recently withdrew the county’s bond rating because the audit remains incomplete; officials said they hope Moody’s reinstates the rating once the audit is finalized.

What was said: Smith described the federal and state submission process (Federal Audit Clearinghouse, Illinois GATA portal, Illinois comptroller) and the nine‑month filing expectations tied to year‑end closing. He gave specific examples of bookkeeping failures — including missing reconciliations, incorrect payroll postings and a general‑corporate bank/investment mismatch — and explained that correcting those items requires supported journal entries across many funds (the county has dozens of trial balances and thousands of account strings).

Board response and timeline: County staff and board members pressed Smith on his employment status (he said he is contracted through Gardner & Company and that much of the cleanup was performed by him personally or by the county’s administrative staff under his direction). CLA has told county staff that once it receives all county‑provided information, its typical turnaround is three to four months; the county has asked CLA to expedite and add staff. Board members said they are tracking daily communication between CLA and county staff and that a final timeline depends on CLA’s ability to reallocate resources.

Next steps: The trial balance is in CLA’s hands; the outside auditor must complete field work and issue an opinion. County staff said they are pursuing additional internal controls and training, and the board scheduled a study session on Open Meetings Act/FOIA topics on March 24.

Quotable: “The financials at the end of the day were showing $46,000,000 in cash, and you guys had only about $21,000,000 in the bank at the end of the day,” Smith said, describing the discrepancy. “We’ve identified a $25,000,000 gap.”

The board did not vote on any audit‑related ordinance or policy during the meeting; staff and CLA will provide further updates as the outside audit progresses.