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Alburnett council reviews FY2025 audit findings; staff to draft stronger internal controls
Summary
Staff briefed the council on FY2025 audit findings, citing recurring segregation‑of‑duties issues, a missed minutes‑publication deadline, and procedural weaknesses; the council agreed staff will produce policies for bank reconciliations, journal approvals and a credit‑card policy to remediate findings.
City staff reviewed the FY2025 audit with the council on April 9, outlining a set of mostly procedural findings and proposed fixes.
Key findings summarized in the audit included limited segregation of duties because of a small staff, a possible instance where minutes were not published and signed within the 15‑day requirement, and incomplete documentation for some annual financial report line items that made disbursements appear to exceed the budget. Staff said several steps are already under way or planned: reconciling delinquent utility accounts (effort began in FY26), drafting a policy to require independent review of bank reconciliations, obtaining back‑of‑check images from Farmers State Bank, instituting formal journal‑entry approval procedures and creating a city credit‑card policy for oversight.
Staff described the issues as largely remediable and said the audit report has already been submitted to the state. For one item, staff attributed an apparent over‑expenditure to a likely typo on the annual financial report rather than to an unauthorized budget overrun; the city will keep a closer eye on the AFR and report any necessary corrections.
Why it matters: Audit findings point to internal‑control gaps that increase risk of error or oversight. Council members and staff said many items reflect the constraints of a small municipal staff and are being addressed with written policies and review practices.
What the council directed: Staff will draft formal policies for bank reconciliation review, journal‑entry approval and a credit‑card policy and will follow up on obtaining check‑back images and correcting any AFR errors. No further council action was required at the meeting because the report had been filed with the state.
