Wilson County audit committee accepts report after finance director details vendor fraud tied to IT director

The Wilson County audit committee voted unanimously to accept the county’s audit findings and recommended corrective actions after the finance director presented an unqualified audit opinion and described material errors and a fraud investigation tied to the information technology department.

The finance director told the committee the auditors’ opinion page states the county’s financial statements “present fairly in all material respects,” an unqualified opinion auditors and officials seek. He then detailed three material audit adjustments. The first involved a $2,128,210 FEMA payment for West Wilson Middle School that had been recorded in the wrong fund (initially recorded in fund 151 instead of rural debt service fund 152); a correcting transfer was posted twice before the error was caught in the audit. The second related to capital-project accounting for state fair proceeds that the director said had been budgeted in fund 189 while the cash remained in fund 171, producing a discrepancy…