Three minor issues revealed in annual Knox County audit but good overall

Knox County once again received a clean bill of health from its auditors, but the firm that conducted the annual financial review said officials still have room to improve.

The county’s external auditor, Pugh & Company, noted three significant deficiencies. But, for the first time in a long time, no material weaknesses while reviewing the county’s budget for fiscal year 2015, which concluded last June 30, according to a preliminary draft of a report.

The county’s Audit Committee will talk more about the findings during its meeting Tuesday.

Overall, county financial statements - in addressing an entire organization that includes the county general government, the school system, and the fee offices - have once again received an “unqualified opinion,” the best ranking possible.

The county has earned the ranking each year for more than a decade, and received the "Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting" from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for almost 20 years.

Auditors, however, noted the following, which they listed as significant deficiencies:

• Six school and county invoices that amounted to $1 million should have been paid through the FY 2015 budget, but were instead paid with revenues from the current budget.
• The Criminal Court Clerk’s Office was dinged after auditors discovered that the department reviews daily receipts on a monthly basis rather than each day.
• Auditors also found accounting errors in the school system’s nutrition department that led to financial overstatements of $622,000.

Officials have since put controls in place to fix the problems.

Rest of story RIGHT HERE.