State Auditor Tim Keller Releases List of Audits with Negative Results

Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 18 April 2016 18 April 2016

Brings transparency to governmental entities with unreliable financial statements

SANTA FE, NM -Today, State Auditor Tim Keller released a list of entities that received problematic audit opinions during the last audit cycle. For the first time, this year the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) began tracking the audits with opinions from independent auditors that indicate the financial statements may contain material and pervasive misstatements (called GǣadverseGǥ or GǣdisclaimerGǥ opinions). Entities that receive GǣnegativeGǥ audit opinions are now being added to the OSA GǣAt-RiskGǥ list.

GǣOur tax dollars are best protected when our local governments' financial statements are up to par and can be relied upon,Gǥ said State Auditor Tim Keller. GǣAudits are the most standardized and useful tool we have to reduce the chances that our public funds are misused. This list of school districts, municipalities and counties shines a bright light on which of them are reporting information that simply isn't cutting it.Gǥ

The entities with GǣadverseGǥ or GǣdisclaimerGǥ audit opinions for fiscal year 2015 are:

Schools

-+ Central Consolidated Schools: disclaimer of opinion due to reconciled back accounts with cash balances of $29 million and a large amount of unverifiable payroll-related liabilities for salaries totaling $3.3 million.

-+ Lordsburg Municipal Schools: disclaimer of opinion due to unreconciled bank statements and cash totaling $3.2 million.

-+ Roy Municipal Schools: disclaimer of opinion primarily because the school district did not maintain accurate and verifiable capital asset records or take a capital asset inventory for capital assets worth approximately $2 million.

Municipalities

-+ Town of Bernalillo: disclaimer of opinion because the Town does not have internal controls in place to process accounting transactions correctly and lacks supporting documentation for the amounts in the accounting systems.

-+ Town of Estancia: disclaimer of opinion due to the lack of accounting record support for cash balances, capital assets and depreciation, and current year revenue and expenditure activities.

-+ Village of Columbus: disclaimer of opinion primarily due to lack of documentation regarding capital assets worth $2.3 million.

-+ Village of Questa: adverse opinion because the Village did not prepare financial statements as required.

-+ Village of Wagon Mound: disclaimer of opinion due to the lack of supporting documentation for all types of financial transactions.

Counties

-+ Harding County: disclaimer of opinion due to the lack of documentation for the amounts in the financial statements for capital assets worth $4.2 million.

State Agencies

-+ No state agencies have received GǣadverseGǥ or GǣdisclaimerGǥ opinions for FY15 as of this date.

Entities are added to the list at the end of each audit cycle and will be removed when they receive an improved audit opinion. More information is available here: http://osanm.org/government_score_card

The Office of the State Auditor helps government work better by providing transparency and accountability for government spending; informing policy choices; and tackling fraud, waste and abuse. OSA is an independently elected executive agency responsible for examining the use of public dollars in New Mexico.

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.