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Auditors issue clean opinion for Greenville but flag material control weaknesses
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Summary
The city’s auditors issued an unmodified opinion on Greenville’s 2024–25 financial statements while identifying material weaknesses in internal control tied to account reconciliations and timing of transfers; staff said cash is sufficient and management will sign the management representation letter.
Laura Lynch, a presenter for the city’s annual audit, told the Greenville City Council the auditors issued an unmodified opinion on the 2024–25 financial statements but identified material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting.
“We identified material weaknesses that were related to account reconciliations not being performed throughout the year, which led to multiple material corrections to the financial statements,” Lynch said. She added that auditors found “no instances of non compliance and no instances of fraud.”
Lynch reviewed the audit’s headline numbers: total assets and deferred outflows of $722,000,000; cash and investments of $234,900,000; capital assets (net of depreciation) of $462,000,000; bonds payable of $429,300,000; a net pension liability of $35,100,000 and an OPEB liability of $3,000,000. The city ended the year with a net position of $197,500,000, an increase of $11,700,000 (6.3%) from the prior year.
At the fund level, Lynch said the General Fund reported roughly $33,000,000 in revenues and $40,500,000 in expenditures, producing an approximate $6.8 million decrease in the General Fund balance for the audited year. Long‑term liabilities rose, she said, from about $400 million to about $481 million, driven largely by revenue bonds issued during the year.
During questions from the council, a staff member explained the timing that contributed to the apparent shortfall. He said the city’s finance director left in May and several large capital projects were funded from pooled cash while related transfers from project investment accounts occurred after the audit cutoff. “I don’t want you guys to feel like we don’t have any cash or we mismanaged any type of cash,” the staff member said, adding that the transfers were being worked through with auditors and staff.
Lynch said proposed audit entries have been posted and accepted by management and that the last piece of evidence will be the management representation letter to be signed by city staff accepting responsibility for the statements.
The presentation was informational; no council action was required at the time. Staff answered follow-up questions about the timing of transfers and said they will continue working with the auditors to address internal control issues and to document corrective steps.
