County audit said ‘clean’

State lead auditor Karen Wilson told Whitman County commissioners Monday morning that the county had a clean audit.

“The county’s results were adequate and did comply with state regulations,” Wilson said.

Wilson said she visited almost all county departments during the audit which checked financial records from Jan. 1, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012.

The report said auditors evaluated internal controls and performed audit procedures on the activities of the county. They also determined whether the county complied with state laws and regulations as well as its own policies and procedures.

Auditors don’t examine every transaction, activity or area, but they do examine areas with the highest risk of noncompliance, misappropriation or misuse. They examined contracts and agreements, Open Public Meetings Act, procurement, budget compliance, District Court operations, safeguarding small assets such as computers, accounting and reporting, intergovernmental activities, payroll and personnel, payments and expenditures, compliance with grant requirements, inter-fund transactions and use of restricted funds.

In all these areas, the auditors found that the county’s internal controls were “adequate to safeguard public assets.” The report also said the county complied with state laws and regulations along with its own policies and procedures in the areas they examined.

The county has approximately 200 employees and operated on annual budgets of approximately $52 million in 2011 and $60 million in 2012, according to the report.