External auditors give South Ogden a clean financial opinion, flag controls and compliance gaps

Peter, the lead external auditor, told the council the audit team had issued a clean opinion on the city’s basic financial statements and accompanying footnotes for fiscal year 2025. "We have given a clean opinion on the financial statements," he said, emphasizing that the opinion covers the statements and the footnote disclosures.

Peter described one internal-control finding tied to the financial-close process: staff had to make adjustments to fixed assets, accounts payable and accounts receivable to get balances where they should be. "...we recommend the city in getting ready for an audit, you go through every balance sheet account and make sure that you have documentation, backup, support, for every number," he said. He also summarized several state-compliance items auditors tested, including budgetary compliance, the fraud-risk assessment, municipal training certificates and reconciliation frequency for court trust (bail) funds. The audit team recommended the city reconcile the court trust account monthly rather than only at year-end.

The council asked clarifying questions about how to address the findings. Peter said the control issues were fixable with earlier preparation and suggested staff and, if desired, an internal-audit committee review higher-risk areas going forward. The council agreed to schedule a debrief with the auditors and to pursue corrective steps before the next audit.