PRIEST RIVER — The city received a clean bill of financial health during its latest audit.
Representatives from Magnuson, McHugh & Dougherty presented their findings to the Priest River City Council on Monday, April 21, for the 2024 fiscal year budget.
“We would mention that we didn’t find any material weaknesses that we would want to bring to your attention,” said Laura Parasida, auditor with Magnuson, McHugh & Dougherty, in summarizing the firm’s findings.
The audit examines the city’s net financial position, fixed assets and any long-term debt. It also looks at the city’s overall financial health and how closely aligned its financial management is to best practices and those required by the government. Some of the items examined by the firm look at the full accrual, like the city’s fixed assets and long-term debt, while others covered more of a “day-to-day snapshot” of the city’s financial picture, Parasida said.
“So it’s just a governmental requirement for your financial statements to have those. Essentially, they’re kind of some different ways to look at those,” she said.
As part of the audit, the firm tests different areas of the city’s financial statement line items and examines the city’s procedures. It looks at the city’s internal control processes and asks detailed questions to gain a firm understanding of the city’s financial picture, Parasida said.
The audit also looked at the city’s governmental funds, among them its general fund and street funds, as well as its proprietary or business-type funds like its water and wastewater funds. Each fund is broken down and analyzed with no deficiencies or problems noted, the auditor said.
In the audit, Magnuson, McHugh & Dougherty auditors found no sign of any material weaknesses or deficiencies nor did they find any significant deficiencies. The audit found strong internal controls and compliance with regulations connected to major programs, Parasida said.
The audit includes notes on the city’s accounting procedures and policies to give residents interested in a deep dive into Priest River’s financial picture a chance to do so.
“So for any readers who want to see, [you can say], ‘OK, here’s a line item of, you know, a lot of dollars and fixed assets,'” Parasida said. “There are footnotes that break down the detail of what those fixed assets are, and notes that break down the detail of the long-term debt, exactly what those bonds are, just a lot more detail for the reader to go through.”
Idaho requires local governmental entities whose annual expenditures exceed $250,000 to conduct an annual financial audit. In addition, a “single audit” is required when a governmental entity has more than $750,000 in federal expenditures. In Priest River’s case, that requirement was triggered by a recent bond connected to the city’s stormwater project.
“[In regard to] the federal awards that you’ve been granted, the city is materially in compliance with those rules and regulations,” Parasida said.
