Poplar Bluff council accepts clean FY2025 audit after single $3.8M timing adjustment

Auditor Jeff Schroeder told the Poplar Bluff City Council on Aug. 3 that the city's FY2025 financial statements received an unmodified (clean) opinion. "That's the one that you wanna get," Schroeder said, explaining the opinion means the statements "present fairly in all material respects" under the modified cash basis the city uses.

Schroeder reported one material adjustment: a construction draw posted in the wrong time period that required a correction of $3,800,000. "It was the right transaction, wrong time period," he said. He also noted four funds in which expenditures exceeded budget and reviewed federal-expenditure testing after the city's federal spending exceeded $1,000,000. Schroeder said the city's federal expenditures for the year were "just a little over $3,900,000," including about $2,300,000 from ARPA funds that were part of the audit procedures.

Schroeder recommended a simple procedural strengthening on procurement: for vendors receiving more than $25,000, staff should check the federal suspension and debarment list and document the result. During council questions, Schroeder pointed the group to the detailed budget-to-actual schedules in the audit report and explained the 21% general-fund ending balance metric the auditors use as a health indicator.

A council member moved to accept the audit as presented; the motion received a second and passed on a voice vote. The council did not debate additional corrective actions beyond Schroeder's recommendations at the meeting; staff accepted responsibility to follow up on internal-control items.