After years of trying to catch up with late city audits – even to the point of changing accounting firms and rebuilding previous paperwork to complete the FY 2015 audit – the Hattiesburg City Council received the fiscal year 2018 audit results during its meeting Monday, June 17.
Paige Johnson of accounting firm Topp McWhorter Harvey presented the 2018 audit for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2018, highlighting the improvements from the previous audit.
“There have been great strides in correcting these findings,” she said. “There are several pieces of each finding that you are required to look at. Part of it is control, part of it is required, and part of it is requirements from the federal agency (in the three federal projects that were handled). I don’t know of any area that you have not made improvements on.”
One area that continues to haunt city officials is the condition of the municipal court computer system. A changeover in the accounting software system, which Mayor Toby Barker hopes to accomplish in the current fiscal year, would require a significant commitment.
Johnson said, “Municipal court software that is currently over there is not adequate. They have issues beyond their control.”
Getting all of the city’s accounting software to speak the same language has been a problem, Johnson said.
“The system is not integrated right now,” she said. “You can work around it, but there are more chances for errors.”
Ctiy Council President and Ward 3 Councilman Carter Carroll
“It’s a dinosaur,” City Council President Carter Carroll said.
Barker said he plans to issue a Request For Proposal for new accounting software in the near future.
Hattiesburg had fallen behind in completing city audits and had lost its Moody’s rating that allowed it to borrow money for projects. The city’s previous accounting firm of Carr, Riggs & Ingram – which prepared the 2015 audit – refused to give the city the work papers.
Completing the Fiscal Year 2016 audit had cost an additional $49,770 in 2018 because Topp McWhorter Harvey, PLLC had been forced to recreate the FY 2015 audit in order to “track the details involved in converting the city’s cash-basis reports to modified accrual basis for the audit,” according to an update provided to the City Council.
The $49,770 research amount does not include audit preparation expenses, which from January through May 2018 was $167,649.50.