Why would the selectmen try to charge an enterprise fund for a general fund expense?
With the town administrator stating and writing, which means the selectmen must agree, that the Town should be asking the sewer commissioners to "contribute" $11,000.00 to help pay for the town's annual financial audits. These are not audits of the sewer department, these are Town audits with appropriations made at annual town meeting. The selectmen even state there has been funds encumbered to pay for these audits, as in money already set aside. Why go after sewer department? Is the Templeton light and water departments being asked to provide funds to pay for the town's annual audits? The light and water are after all part of the town, they are departments of the town. There is a letter from the Massachusetts department of revenue stating that a municipal light depart is not a separate legal entity of the town. Me thinks the selectmen are just looking for funds because they need it to pay for things they are doing but have no money for, that is my opinion.
posted by Jeff Bennett
soon to be a follow up on what happened for FY 2014 and what has happened for FY 2017.
One year, the advisory committee made some errors and another year, the selectmen made some errors. seems like there is proof on paper for the two sides or board/committee to agree to disagree but have the two entities looking at the same information in order to try to double check it so the entire Town of Templeton is better served and stop each other from one upping or one looking better than the other, it is not helping the whole Town which we both seem to like to say we do.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
ANNUAL EXTERNAL AUDITS February 2016
The objective of a year-end, external audit is obtaining an independent assurance as to whether a community’s year-end financial statements are presented fairly in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). By integrating a review of the internal controls associated with financial reporting, the audit also helps to ensure that financial checks and balances are in place to protect public assets. Consequently, regular external audits can provide a powerful tool by which a community can build taxpayer confidence in government operations. The Technical Assistance Bureau (TAB) encourages communities to have independent audits performed by certified public accountants every year. Cities and towns that receive an excess of $750,000 annually in federal funds (even indirectly through a state agency) are required to complete annual audits that comply with the federal Single Audit Act of 1984. Financial statement audits provide information that is especially valuable when a credit rating agency reviews and reports on a municipality’s fiscal condition as it prepares to enter the bond market. A city’s or town’s inability to produce accurate financial reports could negatively impact a rating agency’s opinion on its financial outlook and therefore affect its bond rating. A credit rate reduction could result in hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions, of dollars in additional interest payments for taxpayers over the life of a borrowing. As important, a rate increase can create savings. The independent audit can also be a valuable management tool for assessing the fiscal performance of a community. Although communities that are not subject to the Single Audit Act or that do very little borrowing are free to operate without regular audits of their financial statements, it is not a prudent course. Funding audits at least every two or three years is still recommended.
copied from an article from the Massachusetts division of local service.
posted by Jeff Bennett
The objective of a year-end, external audit is obtaining an independent assurance as to whether a community’s year-end financial statements are presented fairly in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). By integrating a review of the internal controls associated with financial reporting, the audit also helps to ensure that financial checks and balances are in place to protect public assets. Consequently, regular external audits can provide a powerful tool by which a community can build taxpayer confidence in government operations. The Technical Assistance Bureau (TAB) encourages communities to have independent audits performed by certified public accountants every year. Cities and towns that receive an excess of $750,000 annually in federal funds (even indirectly through a state agency) are required to complete annual audits that comply with the federal Single Audit Act of 1984. Financial statement audits provide information that is especially valuable when a credit rating agency reviews and reports on a municipality’s fiscal condition as it prepares to enter the bond market. A city’s or town’s inability to produce accurate financial reports could negatively impact a rating agency’s opinion on its financial outlook and therefore affect its bond rating. A credit rate reduction could result in hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions, of dollars in additional interest payments for taxpayers over the life of a borrowing. As important, a rate increase can create savings. The independent audit can also be a valuable management tool for assessing the fiscal performance of a community. Although communities that are not subject to the Single Audit Act or that do very little borrowing are free to operate without regular audits of their financial statements, it is not a prudent course. Funding audits at least every two or three years is still recommended.
copied from an article from the Massachusetts division of local service.
posted by Jeff Bennett
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