Jan 26, 2021

Whistleblower complaints addressed by city of St. Joseph, per state auditor's office

Posted Jan 26, 2021 9:23 PM

By TOMMY REZAC

St. Joseph Post

The Missouri State Auditor’s office received a whistleblower complaint from the city of St. Joseph last January, alleging several accounting deficiencies and irregularities in the city’s financial systems.

During the initial review, the city contracted with an independent CPA firm, Plante Moran, to provide assessment on the city’s financial functions and to find areas of improvement for efficiency and management practices.

This past June, the state auditor's office informed the city that they'd delay a final decision on performing the audit until they could review the assessment report from Plante Moran, as well as the city's annual financial statement audit.

The state auditor’s office conducted a review of the complaint with both the city and the whistleblower, and was provided the assessment report, from Plante Moran, along with the recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report completed by CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), LLP.

To avoid duplication of efforts by two independent audit firms, and to ensure the most efficient use of taxpayer dollars, the state auditor's office thought it best to close the matter and not conduct additional audit work.

Upon further review, the state auditor concluded that the concerns in the complaint have been addressed, and no additional audit work is required.

"(The city) needed to conclude the private audit that they were doing and make sure that it addressed what needed to be looked at," said Steph Deidrick, who's the state auditor's press secretary. "We don't want to duplicate efforts. Ultimately, it's all taxpayer dollars - whether our office does it or whether the city pays a private entity to do it."

Mayor Bill McMurray was confident in the results and is pleased the matter is now closed.

“The council took the allegations seriously and was committed to an independent firm completing a review of them,” McMurray said in a statement. “Having these independent audits reinforces the efficiency and effectiveness of how we do business, as well as identifies ways in which we can always improve on those functions.”

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