SUBJECT:
Title
Presentation of the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report and Audit
Department
DEPARTMENT: Finance
Presenter
PRESENTER(S): Sara Hancock, Director of Finance
Anne Penney, Deputy Director of Finance
end
Allison Slife, Principal, CliftonLarsonAllen LLP
Time
TIME ESTIMATE: 30 minutes
end
For time estimate: please put 0 for Consent items.
FISCAL SUMMARY:
N/A
Policy
POLICY ISSUES:
Understanding and awareness of the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for 2024.
Recommendation
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
No action required - information purposes only.
Body
SUMMARY/KEY POINTS
• The Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) is the Town of Erie’s official annual financial report.
• The audit of the financial statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2024, was performed by CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (CLA).
• CLA issued an unmodified opinion on the Town’s financials for 2024.
BACKGROUND OF SUBJECT MATTER:
Following is a brief commentary on the annual audit report. Representatives from CLA will also provide comments on the audit and internal control findings and will be available for questions.
Annual Comprehensive Financial Report Summary
For readers new to ACFRs, reading management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A) provides a good starting point. The MD&A provides an analysis and overview of the financial statements and results of operations. It also provides explanations of the various sections of the ACFR. In addition to the financial statements themselves, the footnotes are also a critical part of the ACFR. The footnotes provide information on accounting policies followed by the Town in preparation of the ACFR, details on specific financial statement items (e.g., deposits and investments), along with other important disclosures. Including the MD&A, the ACFR consists of four sections, as follows:
• The introductory section includes a table of contents, a letter of transmittal, the GFOA Certificate of Achievement, and a list of Town officials.
• The financial section includes the auditors’ opinion, management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A), financial statements, and notes to the financial statements. Also included in this section are schedules for those funds considered nonmajor (as defined by accounting standards), combining schedules, and budget variance schedules for the various funds.
• The statistical section includes required and optional statistical tables containing various types of information related to the Town’s financial trends, revenue and debt capacity, demographic and economic data, and operating information.
• The compliance section consists of required disclosures related to certain outstanding bonds, the auditors’ report on internal control and compliance, the auditors’ report on compliance for each major federal program, the schedule of expenditures of federal awards and related notes, the schedule of findings and questioned costs, the Town’s corrective action plan, and the Local Highway Finance Report.
The ACFR is prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) as issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). The objective of the audit performed by CLA was to provide assurance that the Annual Report is in conformity with those standards in all material respects. CLA issued an unmodified opinion on the Town’s financials for 2024, a so-called “clean” opinion.
The Town also strives to prepare the ACFR to meet the standards of the Government Finance Officers Association’s (GFOA) Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting award program. This program encourages preparers of ACFRs to go beyond the minimum requirements of GAAP and strive for transparency and full disclosure in their ACFR. The Town has received this award for the years 2004-2023 and will submit the 2024 Annual Report to GFOA for consideration for the award.
The Single Audit Act requires that a non-Federal entity that expends $750,000 or more in a fiscal year in Federal awards must have a single audit conducted in accordance with 2 CFR 200. The Town exceeded this threshold for 2024, and the single audit information is included in the Compliance Section of the ACFR.
Findings and Corrective Actions
The Town received three audit findings in the 2024 ACFR. Audit Finding, 2024-001, Material Weakness in Internal Control over Financial Reporting, noted that several audit adjustments and revisions were necessary to properly state balances at year-end. Finance staff have already made efforts to update our year-end checklist and procedures to ensure all entries are included and reviewed for accurate financial statements.
The Town received a Qualified Opinion on Assistance Listing No. 21.027 COVID-19 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds as described in finding number 2024-002 for Procurement and Suspension and Debarment. This finding noted that two vendors selected for testing were inactive in SAM.GOV, despite working on a federally funded project requiring active registration. The Town's April 2025 Purchasing Policy update, as outlined in the Corrective Action Plan, now includes steps to verify SAM.GOV status during the requisition process before issuing purchase orders. The Town will also continue to work with legal counsel to update templates to include suspension and debarment language in the Request for Proposal (RFP) and Contract process.
Audit Finding 2024-003 was related to the Reporting compliance requirement for the Airport Improvement Program. It was noted that one required report was not submitted timely and the other required report was not submitted. The Town hires an outside consultant to complete these reports. Town staff have already met to discuss how we can ensure all appropriate staff and consultants are aware of reporting requirements and that they are submitted accurately and timely.
priorities
TOWN COUNCIL PRIORITY(S) ADDRESSED:
☐ Attractive Community Amenities
☐ Engaged and Diverse Community
☒ Prosperous Economy
☐ Well-Maintained Transportation Infrastructure
☐ Small Town Feel
☐ Safe and Healthy Community
☒ Effective Governance
☐ Environmentally Sustainable
☒ Fiscally Responsible
attachments
ATTACHMENT(S):
1. 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report
2. Clifton Larson Allen Audit Presentation