Auditor General: Cochise County posts clean FY25 financial opinion but finds weaknesses in purchasing, IT and WIC compliance

The Arizona Auditor General presented Cochise County’s fiscal year 2025 audit reports on June 16, telling the Board of Supervisors the county’s financial statements received an unmodified (clean) opinion but that auditors identified control weaknesses requiring corrective action.

Auditor Renee Krasco and audit senior Christian Connley said the county’s annual financial report earned a clean opinion, and noted the county’s five‑year trends show revenues exceeded expenses and a net position increase to $217.9 million in FY25. But the auditors also reported three financial‑statement findings and one federal compliance finding that produced a qualified opinion on a federal program.

The auditors flagged $1,552 of purchasing‑card expenditures — including food and beverages — that lacked sufficient documentation or authorization and said the county incurred $1,162 in interest and penalties because a January 2025 purchasing‑card payment was late. Auditors recommended strengthening purchasing‑card policies, improving monitoring and training staff; the county reported an anticipated corrective date of May 31, 2026. Connley said the finding carries a risk of misuse of public monies and potential constitutional concerns if not corrected.

Auditors also found the county has not completed an inventory and classification of sensitive data and that IT control procedures were insufficiently implemented, increasing risk to county systems and data. The report recommends creating a formal data inventory process, implementing access controls and enhanced authentication, ongoing security training, and periodic monitoring. The county told auditors it expects to address those IT and data‑inventory actions by December 2026.

On federal compliance, auditors reported the Health and Social Services Department issued benefits under the WIC special supplemental nutrition program to 17 of 60 tested participants without required rights‑and‑obligations forms and that segregation of duties and mandatory training were lacking. Because of the program’s non‑compliance, the auditors issued a qualified opinion on the WIC program and made eight related recommendations; the county expects to correct the issue by March 2026.

Board members pressed the auditors on practical questions: what qualifies as “sensitive information,” how the county should document public‑records redactions, and why the state’s expenditure‑limit calculation cannot be known until the following year. Auditor staff directed the board to their accountability services (ASD) group for technical guidance and said the county is already working on a data‑classification project.

What happens next: auditors included recommended corrective actions and timelines in the audit reports; the board and county management committed to follow up, including written corrective‑action plans and monitoring implementation. The Auditor General’s reports are public and were issued March 30, 2026.