The Randolph County Commission could be negatively impacted by a recent audit by the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts.
According to the report released Friday, a legal compliance examination was required in lieu of a traditional financial statement audit because the commission did not provide financial statements for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.
“The Commission’s failure to have traditional financial statement audits for the above referenced fiscal years may impact the Commission’s credit rating and/or ability to borrow money in the future,” a summary of the report states. “Additionally, if the Commission expended $750,000 or more in federal awards during any fiscal year, its failure to have the federal awards audited as required by Title 2 U. S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform Guidance) may result in the loss of future federal funding.”
The Examiner’s office performs regular audits on county commissions to determine whether financial statements present the financial position of an entity. The report states that examiners made several attempts to obtain the Randolph County Commission's year-end financial statements.
Other findings in the report state the commission failed to ensure sales and use taxes were properly distributed, failed to ensure that restricted Capital Improvement funds were expended only for allowable purposes, failed to reconcile the amounts shown in its bank accounts to the amounts shown in its accounting records in a timely manner and failed to ensure that capital asset balances were properly reported.
The one-cent education tax in question granted the Roanoke City Board of Education $283,752.88 of sales and use taxes that should have been paid to the Randolph County Board of Education. The Roanoke BOE has since agreed to pay the Randolph County BOE $7,882.02 per month until the full amount has been repaid.
The audit also showed that the Commission’s lack of policies and procedures requiring monthly reconciliation of cash recorded in accounting records with amounts shown in bank accounts could lead to misappropriations and fraud. The Examiners recommended implementing those policies.
Other findings are detailed in the online report.
The Examiners recommended that the Commission prepare financial statements in a timely manner at the end of each fiscal year and determine the amount of federal expenditures for single audit purposes.
1819 News has reached out to the Randolph County Commission for comment.
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