What is Our Finance Department Problem? And What is The Solution?

Mayor Green,
I read this paragraph in the CAFR that will be presented tomorrow night.  It was part of the management letter from our CPA auditors dated March 18, 2014.  This is an embarrassment to our City.
We obviously have a management problem in our Finance Department that needs to be addressed AGAIN by City Council.

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“To the Honorable Mayor and City Council Members,
City of Port Orange, Florida
March 18, 2014

Page 3
Significant Difficulties Encountered during the Audit
Although we ultimately received full cooperation of management and believe that we were given direct and unrestricted access to the City’s books and records, we experienced significant difficulties in the performance of the audit due to the requested audit schedules and final trial balance not being ready for audit within the timeframe initially agreed upon.
We were originally scheduled to start the audit on December 2, 2013, but finally started fieldwork on January 6, 2014. However, upon this delayed start, many requested schedules and year-end adjustments had not been completed by the City, and supporting workpapers for some of the significant audit areas were not received until the last week of January. The related rescheduling, follow-up, and recording of management-provided journal entries significantly added to the time and related cost of the audit.
Considering this is a fixed-price engagement, this situation will not be allowed to occur in future years. We will not begin fieldwork for the 2014 audit until all of the City’s year-end adjustments have been recorded and all requested workpapers have been completed and provided to us. If we need to reschedule, this will likely result in delaying the start of the audit to late March or April.”

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Thanks,
Mark Schaefer
3606 Donna Street
Port Orange, Florida 32129
386-316-1206
.