Beaufort County audit returns clean opinion and no findings, county auditor says

Beaufort County’s FY25 annual comprehensive financial report received an unmodified, or clean, audit opinion, the county’s independent auditor told the Finance, Administration and Economic Development Committee on Tuesday.

David Erwin, a partner with Malden Jenkins who oversaw the audit, said the firm also issued a clean single-audit opinion for the county’s federal spending and reported no audit findings in its internal-control review. "We are issuing a clean or unmodified opinion on this year's report," Erwin said during the presentation.

Erwin summarized the county’s financial position: total assets and deferred outflows around $1.4 billion, about $697 million in capital assets, roughly $615 million in cash and investments, and an ending net position of approximately $964 million — a year-over-year increase of about $131 million. He also said general fund revenues were about $196 million, with taxes accounting for roughly $138 million of that total.

The auditor recommended that committee members consult the Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) in the ACFR for context; Erwin noted the MD&A bridges the technical statements and the story behind the numbers. He also said the county continues to meet benchmarks for fund balance policy and that the GFOA again awarded the county its certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting — the 16th consecutive year.

Committee members praised the finance department’s work. Chair thanked Chief Financial Officer Pinky Herrick and staff for getting materials in on time and for the work that made the clean opinion possible. Erwin emphasized the audit team’s independence and the absence of disagreements with management.

Next steps: the audit presentation was accepted by the committee and Erwin said the auditor looks forward to working with the county in future years.