Mandeville signs letter for audit

New audit committee to meet with auditor before any work begins

By Suzanne Le Breton
St. Tammany News
Published on Friday, October 30, 2009 9:00 AM CDT

Print this story | Email this story | Post A Comment |

The Mandeville City Council has agreed to contract with LaPorte Sehrt Romig and Hand to audit the city’s financial statements for 2009.

By law the audit must be complete within six months of the close of the fiscal year.

Mandeville’s fiscal year ended on Aug. 31.

The auditors with Laporte Sehrt Romig and Hand have stated they would like to get started on the audit Monday in order to have it finished in time. However, members of Mandeville’s newly formed audit committee has expressed interest in meeting with the people charged with conducting the audit prior to them starting work.

Glen Runyon, a member of that committee said he would like to meet with the auditors periodically throughout the process, and he hopes to meet with them first thing Monday morning to set up a schedule for those meetings and set milestones for the auditors to meet.

The committee will meet with the auditors for a final report before the finished audit is presented to the council.

Under the agreement signed with LaPorte Sehrt Romig and Hand, the audit will encompass all funds under the city’s control including the general fund, all special revenue funds, capital project funs, debt service funds and any other fund under the city’s control.

The city will pay a fee that will not exceed $35,000 for the audit. It is noted that fee could go up if city personnel do not cooperate or if the firm has to spend more then the anticipated time to conduct the audit.

Laporte Sehrt Romig and Hand plans to have the audit complete by Feb. 28.

The council was slated to approve the engagement letter at its last council meeting on Oct.22, but delayed that vote until a special meeting could be called at the request of Interim Mayor Edward “Bubby” Lyons.

Lyons, who was appointed to fill the temporary seat on Oct. 17, said, at that time, he wanted more time to review the engagement letter. Given the extra time, he was OK with its approval at the special meeting held Thursday morning.

At the same meeting, the council voted to take former mayor Eddie Price’s name off a list of allowed signers for an account the city has at Resource Bank and replaced it with Lyons’.

Print this story | Email this story | Post A Comment |

Comments

2 comment(s)

Mandy V. wrote on Oct 30, 2009 9:00 PM:

" The residents of Mandeville should be outraged that the work of the CPA firm has not been investigated with everything going on in Mandeville. They are probably not guilty of any crimes, but they should have at least suggested that policies be put in place to help prevent all of the sloppy paperwork within the City. Everyone was apparently covering for each other. They should not have been rewarded with future work. There are other competent CPA firms in the area. "

Concerned Citizen wrote on Oct 30, 2009 2:17 PM:

" The same CPA firm that failed to detect fraud in the past gets the contract again. Interesting way to conduct business. "

WRITE A COMMENT

Use the form below to post a brief comment to this story, or respond to other readers. Please use the word count tool to assist you in keeping your remarks to 100 words or fewer.

Comment posters are responsible for the opinions they express and the accuracy of the information they provide. We urge comment writers to treat this as a public forum where manners matter. We encourage a collegial, non-insulting tone. All readers comments must be approved by our staff before posting to the Web site. They review submitted comments periodically during the day for offensive or off-topic content before posting. Be aware, in accordance with the Communications Decency Act and provisions upheld in judicial appeal, that you are responsible for comments posted on this Web site. The St. Tammany News is not liable for messages from third parties.

DO NOT POST:
* Potentially libelous statements or damaging innuendo.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults or threats.
* The use of another person's real name to disguise your identity.
* Comments unrelated to the story.
* Personal Information (phone numbers, addresses, etc.)

Opinions, advice and all other information expressed in thesttammanynews.com's reader comments represent the individual's own views and not necessarily those of the St. Tammany News. The St. Tammany News does not endorse and is not responsible for statements, advice or opinions offered by anyone other than authorized St. Tammany News spokespersons.

Your thoughtful contribution to the online discussion is appreciated.