Finding Text
2023-006. Significant Audit Adjustments
Criteria:
The Authority should take the steps necessary to ensure accuracy and completeness of the financial statements.
Condition:
This audit required a number of significant adjusting journal entries. These entries were necessary because certain unadjusted general ledger accounts were incorrect and/or not recorded correctly.
Questioned Costs:
None noted.
Effect:
The PHA’s financial statements before any adjusting entries contained errors and/or were not properly recorded.
Cause:
This appears to be an oversight by the Authority.
Recommendation:
I recommend that the Authority exercise more care in processing and recording transactions and that more care be taken to ensure the completeness of financial reporting.
Management’s Response:
The Dodge City Housing Authority has a fee accountant for a reason. We have no one on staff who is an accountant. The Executive Director has a rudimentary idea of accounting principles, however, he must trust our fee accountant to some extent due to his lack of full understanding of our accounting. We have adjustments every year due to something being coded improperly or simply being charged to the wrong account. This past year, our fee accountant made all of our end of the year postings without receiving my end of the year packet. They told me after they closed my year that they never did receive the end of the year information I sent to them via U.S. mail. This caused several end-of-the-year adjustments that we have not seen in years past. I wish I could say I will stay on top of them; however, I wouldn't know where to begin as a non-accountant. I will tell them to keep me better informed of information they need (or have not received from me) in the future. We will look for a new fee accountant otherwise.