Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Office of the Washington State Auditor released its audit this week on Whitman County for the year 2016. The report came after the county received a "no opinion" return for state auditors last year after they found the county's 2015 books were not in a condition to review.
Auditor Eunice Coker Tuesday rated this year's audit finding the best in 10 years. She termed some of the audits over that time span as volatile.
The report found “no significant deficiencies in the design or operation of internal control” over financial reporting or major federal programs. On the county's financial statements, State Auditor Pat McCarthy's office concluded that the “statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position and results of operations of Whitman County, for the year.”
The audit was clean.
“It's really good news because we actually passed,” said County Commissioner Art Swannack.
“This is a fantastic day,” Coker said.
The successful audit comes after a new county finance director started in September of last year when the county received the "no opinion" result from the state.
“A really good hire in Sharron Cunningham,” Swannack said.
Cunningham works under Coker.
“I'm really excited for Whitman County,” said Cunningham. “It was a team effort. I think the entire accounting group within Whitman County should be very proud of themselves.”
For 2015, the county was deemed to not have “adequate internal controls in place to ensure accurate reporting of its Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards.”
This week's audit report for 2016 shows the problem has been “partially corrected” after the county auditor's office conducted one-on-one departmental training for grant reporting.
The local department also received federal and state grant forms and directions on how to properly report expenditures and pass-through information.
The 2015 state findings charged that the county “did not have adequate internal controls in place to ensure accurate reporting of its financial statements and schedules.”
This was also found to be “partially corrected” by the state office for 2016, noting that the Whitman County office re-instituted Accounting Technician Meetings (ATM) in October 2016 and an updated journal entry process in September 2016.
The ATM meetings consisted of teaching appropriate departments in the New World accounting system, reviewing procedures and answering general questions.
For journal entries – how any kind of transaction is moved in the accounting system – each now requires three separate approvals and are reviewed for correctness.
This year, the process was updated again to add direct upload of backup to the journal entry in New World software to save time.
“We're finding that it is a fantastic financial system. You just need to set it up right,” said Coker.
For Financial Statement Preparation, the state audit identified internal control weaknesses in recording financial transactions and financial statement preparation “that increases the risk of significant financial statement errors.”
The report specifically noted lack of review and monitoring controls to check for errors in the annual report. Also noted, the previously mentioned documentation and monitoring process for journal entries.
These faults resulted in the county not being able to reconcile total cash and investments in the 2016 financial statements to reconciled bank balances. The difference was $59,244.
The county was aware of the discrepancy, but lacked the opportunity to fully look into the errors before submitting statements for audit.
Reserved and unreserved cash balances were another issue. The state identified at least $71,000 that should have been deemed as reserved. Other amounts could not be accurately decided without more research.
In the realm of managerial funds, those for solid waste utility and special revenues were reported separately, when only one fund should be used for each activity.
Finally, the audit noted “numerous errors” in notes to financial statements that did not agree with the financial statement amounts.
“Most of what was questionable has been fixed already,” said Coker.
The state has yet to finish their accountability audit for the county. It is expected to come in by Dec. 31.
“That won't be as pretty,” Coker predicted.
Working on 2017 numbers, Coker hopes the office will be successful again.
“I believe Sharron's done a lot of good work ... the understanding of how to operate the New World Software is much better,” Swannack said of Cunningham. “I believe this bodes well for the future.”
The new status of the financials is likely to help commissioners.
“It makes a big difference having accurate records when we're making budget decisions,” Swannack said. “Previously, we had to be cautious on whether the money was there.”
Earlier this year, the commissioners approved hiring an assistant finance administrator, who was added a month ago.
“We'll keep the course,” Cunningham said. “We want the taxpayers to know exactly what is going on."
“Sharron's just awesome,” Coker said. “She's cleaning it up. It's a work in progress. It's not finished. Get good people in the right positions.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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