County Audit Finds One Minor Flaw, Freeholders Vote Acceptance

CREST HAVEN – The 2007 audit of the County of Cape May is complete and contains “only one modest finding of a weakness for improvement that the county has already corrected,” according to a release.
The audit was completed on time, prior to June 30 as required by the state.
The freeholders passed a resolution on Aug. 12 accepting the audit conducted by Ford-Scott of Ocean City.
This is the seventh year in a row that the County received a clean audit.
“The county has worked hard over the years to provide sound financial accountability and is delighted to have a clean audit for seven consecutive years,” Freeholder Director Daniel Beyel stated. Audits since 1997 contained minimal comments averaging between two and three a year. “Not only were there few comments but none were severe or extensive,” added Beyel.
Obtaining a clean audit is no small task considering the 2007 county budget was nearly $136 million with over a thousand employees and more than 50 departments and agencies. “To achieve an audit with only one comment reflects a county-wide commitment to conducting government in a professional and efficient manner,” concluded Beyel.
The one finding in the 2007 audit pertained to Election Board invoices that were not given to the finance officer in a timely fashion preventing prompt payment to the vendor. The corrective action plan includes the reassigning of accounts payable within the Election Board.
The audit, a financial and operational report card conducted by an independent auditing firm, is required by state law to be sent to rating agencies such as Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s.
These agencies use the audit along with other data to determine the county’s fiscal condition. Clean audits result in better ratings which equates into significant savings in bonding costs.
Currently, the county has the second highest rating for a county government in New Jersey.
“A clean audit is an accomplishment for us all to be proud of in light of the challenges we face including the continual state mandated changes and a greater demand for services from the public,” county Treasurer Edmund Grant stated.