A long overdue Richmond financial report has hit another snag, and this time, city officials say it’s out of their hands.
The 2015 Comprehensive Financial Audit Review was due to the state last November. The city’s external auditor, Grant Thornton, told finance officials earlier this summer that the report would be completed “no later than Aug. 15, 2016,” says Lenora Reid, the city’s deputy chief administrative officer for finance and administration.
“We were expecting it today … we learned late Friday that it will not be today due to the change in partners and review,” Reid says an interview.
A medical issue prevented the original point-person with whom city finance officials were working from completing the job by the Aug. 15 deadline, Reid says. The replacement has been chosen, but must review the report and may make additional requests of the city before the auditor can sign off on it, she added.
Reid told members of Richmond City Council during a special meeting on Monday that she isn’t sure when the report may be completed because the auditor hasn’t provided a deadline. Tammy Hawley, a spokeswoman for Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ administration, says that city officials are “encouraged that we’re near the finish line” with the report.
The city struggled to complete its 2014 CAFR, too. Officials cited turnover in the finance department and shoddy accounting software that was poorly implemented. As a result of the setbacks, the city turned the report in nearly a year late.
Three localities in the state that have not yet turned in reports for fiscal year 2015, which ended more than a year ago, said Martha Mavredes, the state auditor of public accounts: Richmond, Hopewell and Manassas Park.
