State Auditor Backs Away From Providing Auditing Services

By Gordon HopkinsThe State of Nebraska requires municipalities such as cities and counties to perform annual financial audits. However, some villages may be eligible for an audit waiver. With the state cutting back on providing auditing services, it is up to each municipality to find an auditor, which is becoming increasingly difficult.Audit WaiversAccording to the Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts (APA), the current threshold for allowing an audit waiver is for villages with total disbursements of $500,000 or less.As budget season winds down, eligible villages are deciding whether or not to apply for a waiver.The primary reason for requesting a waiver is cost. While audits are an important tool for ensuring compliance and preventing fraud, they can be expensive.Jennifer Busboom, CPA, of Blobaum and Busboom, CPA, attended the budget hearing for the Village of Jansen on Monday, September 18, 2023. When asked about the cost, Busboom said, “Why do you do one versus the other? For a lot of boards, its simply cost. If you feel that all invoices are being approved, all steps are being followed, and it’s just a matter of reporting to the state.”An audit waiver does not mean there is no examination of village finances at all. Instead, the auditor will do what is called a compilation.“Whether you choose to request an audit waiver or whether you opt to have a full audit,” Busboom explained. “Audit waiver is simply accumulating the transactions in your ledger, making sure they’re reconciled to the bank statement, reporting them as inflows and outflows on the state prescribed form.”A full audit, on the other hand, does not simply look at the number but examines procedures as well. Busboom said, “An audit requires that we would go in and assess your internal controls and format financial statements in a government accounting standards formatting.”A number of villages in Jefferson County have been eligible for audit waivers over the years. The Village of Daykin has filed a waiver every year since 2007. Endicott and Steele City have filed waivers every year since at least 2000. The State Auditor’s database available to the public does not have data reaching back before 2000.Jansen has not had a full audit since 2016. The Village Board of Trustees has not yet decided on whether or not to request a full audit or file a waiver. If the village opts for a waiver, it must be requested prior to December 31, 2023.Finding an AuditorWhile some villages are eligible to waive a full audit, counties and cities do not have that option. Previously, the state was providing auditing services for counties. Now, counties are being told they must find new auditors.Busboom explained how the situation has changed, “The county audits, years ago, used to be performed by individual firms. And then the state kind of came in and said we want to do the county audits and under bid all the individual practices and took over doing the county audits.”Unfortunately, the state auditor is now suffering from the same staffing shortage as every other industry. Busboom said, “They are struggling with keeping and training staff, and so they bring in new college graduates, they work for them for about a year and then they go work elsewhere and so they are struggling with their staffing. And so, they’ve said one of the things we can do is get county audits off of our plate.”Counties are struggling to locate auditors willing or able to do the work. Jefferson County has, thus far, received no bids for an auditor. Busboom said, “Thayer County, I think, finally did find one but they had it out for bids for quite some time. And they’re ending up generally having to go outside of local for that.”Cities are also struggling to find auditors. At a meeting of the Wymore City Council on Wednesday, September 20, City Clerk Janet M. Riensche said the city had received a single bid, “We’re coming up on a time where they’re going to have to schedule us for the audit, and I have had nobody else that is even remotely interested.”Audits must be completed by March 30, 2024.

Homecoming 2023 For Jeffs

Myrna Cook-Burns

Related Articles

Unofficial Results of Gage County Primary Election

Local Unofficial Election Results

Graduation Day, Mother’s Day 2024

Outside Interests Target Local Candidates