Marion City Council approves an extra $20,300 for forensic auditing services
Marion City Council has approved another $20,300 that will be used to pay for ongoing work related to the city's 2021 financial audit. Council voted to approve the additional funding during its meeting on March 27.
The City of Marion hired Veritas Solutions Group LLC in November 2022 to conduct a forensic audit to determine the source of large discrepancies in bank reconciliation amount for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, Auditor Miranda Meginness said. The total amount of the contract approved by city council during a meeting held Nov. 14, 2022, was $55,540.
Meginness said Veritas Solutions Group LLC informed her recently that it would cost an additional $35,000 to complete the forensic audit, based on information provided to the firm by New World, which provides the software the city uses to track its finances. There was still $14,700 remaining from the original appropriation for the project, which meant that city council had to approve $20,300.
The difference in the amount of bank and book balances was about $315,000, Meginness said. She said the discrepancies date back to the administration of former Auditor Robert Landon and were discovered as her staff reviewed bank reconciliations from 2020 and 2021.
Meginness has said that information and data gleaned from the forensic audit being conducted by Veritas Solutions Group LLC is valuable in helping Charles Harris and Associates, the firm that is working on the 2021 financial audit for the city.
The 2021 audit was supposed to have been completed and filed by Sept. 30, 2022, but representatives from Charles Harris and Associates told Meginness that they had discovered "significantly higher differences in the book to bank balance" and wasn't "comfortable moving forward without confirmation of fund balances," which led to delays in completing the audit.
Meginness told city council last Monday that Veritas Solutions Group representatives said they hoped to have the forensic audit completed by March 31. With that completed, it's hoped that Charles Harris and Associates can then finally complete the 2021 financial audit for the city.
Then it's on to the 2022 financial audit, which will be conducted by the firm of Clark Schaefer Hackett Business Advisors. The city has hired that company to perform the city's financial audits for fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024. The estimated cost for services for the 2022 and 2023 audits is $25,000 while the cost estimate for services related to the 2024 audit is $26,000.
Clark Schaefer Hackett Business Advisors has 11 locations in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Mumbai, India, according to its website. It is on the Ohio Auditor of State's list of approved firms to perform financial audits for local municipalities.
The City of Marion was forced to hire a private accounting firm last year rather than have the Ohio Auditor of State's Local Government Services conduct the audit after the state auditor declined to take on the task citing a lack of personnel.
Marion City Council committees will meet beginning at 6:30 p.m. Monday, at City Hall.
The next regular city council meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 10. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
For information about Marion City Council or to view meeting agendas and minutes, go to the City of Marion website www.marionohio.us.
The audio from Marion City Council regular meetings and committee meetings can accessed on the City of Marion Ohio YouTube channel.
Marion City Hall will be closed on Friday, April 6 in observance of Good Friday and the Easter holiday. City Hall will reopen to the public on Monday, April 10.
Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter
This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Council approves an extra $20,300 for forensic auditing services
