The Price City Council was given a presentation of the fiscal year 2023 audit report on Wednesday evening. This presentation was given by a representative of Larson & Company, who thanked the council for letting him be in attendance that evening.
He stated that not a lot changed since the prior year as far as reporting goes. It was explained that management is responsible for the financial statements and the content they are in as well as identifying any conditions or events that would take place in the year that would prohibit anything or is an ongoing concern.
If negative impacts are not mentioned, auditors are led to believe that everything is fine and then it effects externally. The council was encouraged to always know what goes on within the city and be aware of things that may negatively impact it.
Also now, as part of procedures, the auditors look for such conditions or events. From there, the representative explained that management discussion analysis is a great place to start reading the audit report, which holds the financial highlights, net pensions, income statement of the city for the year and more.
The financial statements also hold the supplementary information. One of the accomplishments of the audit is to look at internal controls for significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, in which none were found for Price City. Next, the state auditor is required to look at budgetary compliance, fund balance, restricted taxes and related revenues.
In the audit, an opinion is given on the compliance and is very specific to the aforementioned areas, not the entire state code. It is now required to communicate significant risks that are identified as part of procedures, which has always been the case but not often addressed. The auditor also explained that all audits are risk-based.
It was then stated that Price City has good internal control and a clean office. The representative then told the council to feel free to reach out to him regarding any questions, stating that he would love to speak more if needed.
Lisa Richens of the finance department thanked the representative and said that he and his team are great to work with on the audit. They are always available for communication throughout the year on anything unusual that may come up.
Mayor Mike Kourianos acknowledged what Richens does and said that it is commendable. Councilman Layne Miller echoed the mayor’s sentiment by stating that Richens has great communication and updates are always available before the council approved the audit report.