Agenda - Council - 07/23/1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I AUTHORIZE REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS FOR AUDITING SERVICES By: Jessie Hart, Finance Officer Background: The City has retained the auditing firm of Malloy, Montague, Karnowski, Radosevich & Co. [MMKR] for the audits of its comprehensive annual financial reports and Fire Relief Association since 1990. Prior to that, Ken Malloy of MMKR was associated with the audit through the firm of Pannell Kerr F. orster. When Panel Kerr Pannell split due to mergers, Ken Malloy and several others formed MMKR and continued to provide the City of Ramsey. with auditing services. Over the past three years, the City has been able to cut its costs for auditing services by preparing the majority of the working papers and schedules as well as the entire comprehensive annual financial report. On the other hand, legal requirements such as the Single Audit Act and compliance reporting, have caused additional increases. The following is a detail of the cost of auditing services for the City and Fire Relief over the past seven years: CAFR Year Budget Year City CAFR Fire Relief Cost Cost 1989 1990 $19,125 $1,500 1990 1991 $18,741 $1,500 1991 1992 $14,795 $1,500 1992 1993 $13,947 $1,500 1993 1994 $13,678 $ 960 1994 1995 $13,755 $1,085 1995 1996 $14,045 $1,265 It should be noted that beginning in budget year 1995, the audit fees also included the cost of the auditors review for compliance with the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting Program. As an aside, the Fire Relief audit has consisted solely of an opinion being expressed on the state reporting: form, not the financial statements as a whole. This is all that is required if the total assets of the Relief Association are less than $200,000. It is anticipated thaf there will be an increase in audit fees in 1998, which is the first year that the total assets of the Relief Association are expected to exceed $200,000 requiring a full audit of the financials as well as the state reporting form. During the past several years auditing services have been awarded to MMKR late in the year, for just that year, without consideration being given to what the market may have to offer. In order to "see what's out there" for auditing services for local governments, we are requesting that requests for proposals [RFP] be sent to a number of auditing firms that offer services to local governments.