Picayune audit receives unmodified opinion; state compliance items to be corrected

The City of Picayune received an unmodified audit opinion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2023, the auditor told the council on Tuesday.

Jade Mills of TMH, the external auditor, told the council the unmodified opinion is the highest standard under governmental auditing standards and that the city had no financial‑statement findings. "We issued an unmodified opinion," Mills said, adding that this result is "especially for a city of your size" and that it places Picayune in the top tier of municipalities in the state.

Why it matters: An unmodified opinion means the auditor found the city’s financial statements fairly presented in all material respects. Mills also said some state‑compliance findings remain from earlier audits — bank reconciliations, inventory procedures and payroll reconciliation carryovers — and that those items are being corrected. "Those are carryovers because by the time they were discovered in '22 there wasn't time to fix them for '23," Mills said, adding staff expects many to be cleared in the next audit cycle.

The audit also flagged one new finding related to implementation timing of a water ordinance, noting the city needed to update accounting entries so billed water amounts match ordinance rates. Mills said management is working to amend the ordinance and the underlying billing so that the accounting reflects the intended water charges.

Council members pressed for timing. Mills said some items are likely to be resolved for the FY2024 audit and explained the audit timeline: large information requests are issued after year end and the firm must wait for documents to be uploaded before work begins. "We expect to have most of it by the end of September," Mills said, and estimated the city rates an "8 or a 9" on a 1–10 scale given the unmodified opinion and absence of financial‑statement findings.

What comes next: The council voted to accept the audit report as presented and asked staff to follow up on the compliance items and report progress in future meetings. Mills told the council the municipal compliance questionnaire timing and several other items "should go away" in next year's report if corrected.

No formal penalties were announced; Mills emphasized these were state compliance findings separate from the financial‑statement opinion and would typically be repeated until fixed in the audited year.

The council accepted the report by motion and voice vote and moved on to routine business.