County Government Audits
The issue
In 2004, the MNCPA helped pass legislation allowing the state auditor to permit counties to seek bids from private CPA firms to perform state mandated audits. The legislation was permissive and allowed the state auditor to determine which counties would participate. The overall goal was that all counties would have the option to bid their audits.
Currently, the program is not fully implemented and there are still many counties who would like to, but have not been allowed to seek competitive bids. A lot of time was spent discussing this issue in 2011, but it was not included in the final budget resolution.
The MNCPA continues to support the counties efforts to allow CPA firms the opportunity to engage in county government audits and continues a dialog with the State Auditor’s office.
Why you should care
CPA firms have shown they can perform audits meeting the requirements set by the state. CPAs have also shown they can complete the audits for significantly less than the state.
The MNCPA supports county efforts to expand the program an allow all counties the option to bid their audits.