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Osage County commissioners approve short‑term fix and new auditor to address multi‑year accounting backlog
Summary
After a multi‑hour discussion, commissioners approved a plan to close the 2024 books using a suspense account approach, prioritized payroll continuity and selected Gordon CPA to perform the 2024 audit, with detailed reconciliations to follow over coming months.
Osage County commissioners on Jan. 13 approved a short‑term accounting plan and named a new auditor to address a backlog of unposted transactions from 2024 and 2025.
Commissioners heard from outside consultants and county finance staff that a combination of unrecorded bank activity and invoices had left the county unable to complete year‑end closing in the usual way. To avoid interruptions in county operations, the consultants proposed moving unposted items into a suspense account so the county can close 2024 and resume routine processing while staff and consultants reconcile transactions behind the scenes.
The plan is intended to be procedural, not substantive: county officials said the suspense entries would later be parsed and moved by journal entry to the appropriate funds and line items after the reconciliations are complete. A consultant summarized the approach, saying the suspense account would allow the county "to close the books so you can go back and assign them to the correct fund department line items." The commission emphasized that payroll continuity is the highest immediate priority.
Commissioners asked for a timetable and resource estimate. Consultants said the work would likely continue through February and require several weeks of targeted review; staff agreed to bring a more detailed timeline and an interim report ahead of the next Tuesday meeting. The commission approved running one accounts‑payable cycle next week as part of the short‑term plan so that critical invoices can be processed while reconciliations proceed.
As part of the response to the accounting issues, the commission voted to accept the proposal from Gordon CPA to audit the 2024 fiscal year, subject to legal review of the final contract. The motion passed with unanimous voice votes.
Why it matters: County bookkeeping problems can delay payments to vendors and complicate payroll, budgeting and required state or federal reporting. Commissioners said the chosen approach balances the need to keep county operations running with the need to produce accurate audited financial statements.
What happens next: County staff and outside consultants will deliver a more detailed timeline and a proposed staff/consultant task list before the next regular meeting; the auditor will begin work once the contract is finalized. The commission said it expects additional journal entries and audit adjustments to be documented so auditors can review them during the audit.
