LOCAL NEWS — The Metro Utilities Board met on Tuesday, July 13 at 6 p.m. Prior to the regular meeting, they met for a work session where Winnett Associates of Shelbyville presented the audit findings for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. The independent accounting firm completed the audit on June 23, 2021.
As a reminder, the Metro Utilities Department is considered a separate enterprise and is not publicly funded. Instead, they use user fees in addition to state and federal grants to fund operations.
According to CPA Connie Bailey, who presented the findings, Metro Utilities Department maintains “internal control over financial reporting” and is in compliance with “certain provisions of law, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements and the matters.”
In short, they passed.
There were two documented findings in the yearly audit:
Errors corrected after year end
The auditors stated that MUD did not currently have an adequate system of checks and balances to detect errors in recording transactions so that they can be corrected in a timely manner. This resulted in several errors that were not corrected until after the year-end. Their recommendation is that department personnel reconcile the general ledger on a monthly basis.
In a statement from MUD General Manager Russell Sells, he stated that he agreed with this finding and that moving forward MUD staff will meet weekly to discuss projects in progress.
“This action will enable staff to verify all documentation needed is turned in a prompt way to assist the reconciliation of the general ledger asset and liability accounts monthly,” he state in a letter dated June 23, 2021.
According to MUD officials, that new weekly meeting is already taking place.
Records not available by audit deadline
According to state law, all audited offices must close their accounting books no later than two months after the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30 for Metro Moore County. MUD’s official accounting records for 2019-20 were not available to auditors by that August 31 deadline.
Sells stated in the same letter that new accounting software caused the delay and slowed the audit process. He stated that maintaining the same software in the next audit cycle and reconciling the general ledger monthly should prevent this delay from happening in the future.
The audit states that MUD’s finding were resolved to the auditor’s satisfaction. If you would like to read the complete report, you may to so by clicking here. •
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