Humboldt County Catches Up on Six Years of Back Audits

Press release from the County of Humboldt:

The County of Humboldt recently received the final draft of the audited financial statements and single audit for fiscal year 2024-25. This is a significant milestone, as staff and independent auditors completed six years of back audits in just over three years, bringing the county back to a regular audit schedule for the first time since 2020.

Being behind on audits carries serious risks for agencies, including pauses in federal and state funding, being flagged as a high-risk auditee or having a negative impact to the entity’s credit rating. The county experienced some of these consequences while audits were past due, and getting current is the most important step toward preventing future impacts.

The next audit, for fiscal year 2025-26, is due March 31, 2027, and the Humboldt County Auditor-Controller’s Office is committed to meeting that deadline and continuing to improve processes moving forward.

Normally, an organization completes one audit per year. During a typical audit, an independent audit firm reviews a selection of the county’s financial transactions for a given year and evaluates them against legal and accounting standards. The independent auditors choose which records to examine, focusing on recurring issues as well as other issues chosen by the audit team. The county does not choose the records that are reviewed.

Every audit provides important lessons about the county’s accounting practices and the audits conducted over the last three years, in particular, have led to positive improvements in how the county manages and reports its finances. The Auditor-Controller’s Office is committed to continued accounting excellence, building on this progress and maintaining the highest standards of financial accountability every year.

“I am proud of what my team and the county have accomplished since Fall of 2022,” said Interim Auditor-Controller Mychal Evenson. “This was a team effort that relied heavily on the analysis and transactional knowledge of departments, who often had to reach back multiple years to reconstruct a task or function for the reports, while also having to keep up on their day-to-day work.

We continue to make significant improvements to the county’s accounting and financial recordkeeping systems each year. These improvements help departments make better financial decisions and provide leadership with clearer insight into the county’s fiscal condition. We are committed to moving forward and building on the progress we’ve made.

Now that audits are current and the most pressing risks have been addressed, we can focus more deeply on strengthening the internal environment. Effective accounting systems start at the initial transaction and flow all the way through financial reporting. The work is not done, but this is an important milestone worth celebrating.”

About Humboldt County Auditor-Controller’s Office

The Humboldt County Auditor-Controller is committed to protecting taxpayer resources by standing as the last line of defense against fraud, waste, abuse, misuse and error. The office is dedicated to providing timely, accurate and decision-useful accounting information to internal and external partners. For more information, visit HumboldtGov.org/Auditor-Controller.

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