I spoke of doing Requests for Proposals in seeking auditing firms in a previous blog. The city is obligated to conduct an audit on an annual basis. The city received 3 proposals from governmental accounting firms. The auditing firm the city selected was Schlenner Wenner. They have offices in St. Cloud, Little Falls, Albany, Maple Lake and Monticello. The office the city will be working with is in St. Cloud.
In doing the Request for Proposals we solicited proposals which included a price for the annual audit for a three year period. They will conduct the audit for 2012, 2013, and 2014. This firm gave us a price that was $5000 per year less than the current audit quote.
You may ask how they can do this. They have found some economy in the way they conduct audits. They provide a detailed list of those documents they require prior to the audit. These are things that we typically provide but having them available prior to the audit gives us time to deal with them and minimizes their time during the physical audit. They also download materials directly from our accounting system. Having the information readily available only makes their job easier. Our books are not complicated or extensive. We have minimal number of transactions and limited personnel. They still spend time at city hall going though our data but the operations are far more efficient.
You also may ask what quality they may provide. Are they doing what’s required? The state requires that all governmental audits meet required standards. The firm has certified public accountants. They maintain a positive peer review. Their references were checked. The people we spoke with were very pleased with the auditing experience and outcome. They indicated they were easy to work with, have a large client base, and do a good job.
We look forward to working with them.
