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Albany County treasurer warns audit noncompliance after software switchover
Summary
Albany County Treasurer Tracy told commissioners the county is noncompliant with the Department of Audit after switching accounting software, delaying the FY2024–25 audit; auditors will finish remaining months virtually while staff fix reporting mappings, and officials said funding can be cashed‑flowed short term.
Albany County Treasurer Tracy told the Board of Commissioners on Feb. 3 that the county’s FY2024–25 audit is delayed after a mid‑year switch to new accounting software left some reports unusable and triggered a noncompliance finding from the Department of Audit. "I wish I was here with good news," Tracy said in opening her update.
Tracy said auditors have all the records and are working remotely to complete the final three months (April 1–June 30) of the fiscal year. She described a technical problem in which a missing “character code” in the new system made roughly $3 million appear to be missing from a general reserve cash account until staff identified and corrected the setup. "It was a perfect storm of bad timing of going live," she told commissioners, and staff will hold regular status meetings with the auditors as they finish the work.
Why it matters: the Department of Audit’s noncompliance determination can lead to withheld funding, though Tracy said the county can cash‑flow in the short term and payroll is not at risk. Commissioners pressed for details about the cause and the county’s plan to prevent recurrence. Tracy said the county will not run another software conversion mid‑fiscal year again and described steps to reconcile grants, payroll and financial reporting moving forward.
What went wrong and what’s next: Tracy said the new software presents reports differently and required remapping to match the county’s prior reports. Staff discovered one account missing the character code used to categorize fund and balance‑sheet items; that misconfiguration produced apparent discrepancies in trial balances between different reporting modules. Auditors agreed to conduct virtual work and regular status meetings; the county will monitor final submission and expects auditors to complete their compliance review once records are received.
Commissioners emphasized the seriousness of the finding and requested continued transparency. Tracy said staff will institute quarterly checkpoints for high‑impact offices (grants, clerk, treasurer) and implement new review steps for journal imports and account setups. The board did not take formal action beyond asking for follow‑up reporting at future meetings.
The board’s next procedural step: Tracy and county staff will continue to work with the auditors; commissioners asked that updates be provided if the Department of Audit takes further compliance actions or withholds funds.
