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City audit: Santa Paula receives unmodified opinion despite staffing-related control issues
Summary
Auditors issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on the city's 2022-23 financial statements but identified significant internal-control issues tied to staffing shortages; staff said corrective entries were made and further review is underway.
City staff and auditors presented the year-end 2022-23 audit to the council and reported an unmodified opinion along with identified internal-control concerns. Veronica Hernandez, audit manager with the engagement firm, summarized the audit process and told the council the auditors issued a clean opinion while noting some significant control issues related to staffing and recording errors that have since been corrected in the financial statements.
"We issued an unmodified, otherwise known as a clean opinion," Hernandez said, adding that no material weaknesses were found but that there were significant internal-control issues attributed to turnover and staffing shortages. Director Christy Ramirez explained the audit delays reflected staff capacity issues and said the city has made process improvements such as increased scanning of daily registers to expedite future audits.
Councilors probed actuarial differences reported in the draft (OPEB vs. PERS assumptions) and asked for follow-up with the actuarial firm to reconcile an apparent outlier in the OPEB valuation. Auditors said the report presented was a draft and that partner review and outstanding confirmations remain before final issuance; staff agreed to follow up and return with clarifications.
