Baker County board approves expanded audit RFP as commissioners press for transparency

Baker County commissioners voted to issue an expanded RFP for the county’s annual audit that explicitly requests enhanced financial review and forensic‑oriented procedures, stronger internal control evaluation and direct reporting to the Board of County Commissioners.

Staff said the revised scope would fold together the statutorily required annual audit with an enhanced, optional review that examines segregation of duties, system access controls, compensating controls where segregation is limited, and an assessment of the risk of management override of controls. The scope asks proposers to provide examples of enhanced audit or forensic procedures for comparable government clients in the last five years and to distinguish formal audit findings from advisory observations.

Commissioners emphasized that the auditor’s primary responsibility is to the Board, that material concerns should be communicated promptly and that advisory observations should be documented separately from formal findings. One commissioner said prior audits had omitted significant issues — for example, long‑standing use of general fund dollars for solid‑waste funding — and that those items should not be excluded if warranted by the audit.

The board approved the RFP scope (with a minor amendment to specify accounting/framework language) by roll call; votes were recorded as unanimous. Staff will publish the RFP and begin the solicitation process so a new contract can be in place ahead of the next annual audit cycle.

What happens next: staff will publish the RFP per the approved scope, evaluate proposals on the enhanced criteria and bring recommended firms to the Board for contract approval.