Toccoa Receives Clean Audit Report

The city of Toccoa receives good news on its Fiscal Year 2016 audit.

Toccoa City Commissioners received their annual audit report at a planning meeting at Ping’s Grill at the Links at Lake Toccoa on Monday.

Joel Black from the city’s auditing firm, Mauldin and Jenkins, presented the results of the audit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2016.

He said that the city had another good audit report this year.

“Our overall report was unmodified, or clean, which says the financials are materially correct,” said Black. “That is the opinion you hope to receive and the one you did receive.”

Black said the audit also shows that the city’s fund balance and savings are very strong.

“You have a little over three months worth of expenditures (in fund balance),” said Black. “For a city your size, I would probably say a good recommendation would be about three months, so you are right at what I would probably recommend.”

Overall, Toccoa Mayor Jeanette Jamieson said the audit report shows the quality of work that the city’s financial department is doing.

“It was not anything we did not expect, but it is always re-assuring to know that you have an excellent audit,” said Jamieson.

Jamieson said it reflects on the work that former Finance Director Cathy Loudermilk and current Finance Director Becky Bohannon have done, along with their staff.

“Our audits are always clean audits,” said Jamieson. “They are excellent reports. We recognize Becky and all the people in that department.”

Black did say that they did have to make two minor audit adjustments in inter-fund activity, but notes that the city has fewer and fewer of those each year and is doing very well overall on that front.

Also, he said the city could improve its segregation of duties on finances, but added that many small governments have that issue because they cannot afford to hire enough staff to fully segregate those duties.