CCP 02-21-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. . . ~ ~ EN HILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: February 16, 2006 AGENDA ITEM 2.G TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council FROM: Murtuza Siddiqui, Finance Director SUBJECT: Auditor Selection Process BACKGROUND The City of Arden Hills has been receiving the annual audit services from the CPA firm of Abdo, Eick, and Meyers for over the past ten years. DISCUSSION It's a customary practice for a number of cities and other governmental entities to bid for audit services every three to five years. This is a good practice first to ensure that the pricing is competitive, but also to explore the option of getting another audit firm to examine the organization from a different perspective, There are pros and cons of retaining the same audit firm for a lengthy period of time and they arc outlined as follows: Pros: . The auditor is very familiar with the organization and its accounting practices. The auditor maintains very detailed records of all activities and can be a tremendous source of information, especially, if there is a staff turnover or gaps in filling positions. The City has experienced a number of changes in the Finance Department over the past few years. . Staff does not have to spend an enormous amount of time explaining the organization and its particular systems or its uniqueness to auditors each year and to discuss details as they are already very familiar with the system. . Since the auditors are very familiar with the City's system, they can very helpful to the staff over the entire year as they have questions about treatment of any particular issues pertaining to accounting. . They can be very helpful, particularly if the staff is new, and especially if the size of staff is small, as is the case in Arden Hills. C:\Docurnents and Settings\michelle.wolfe\Local Settings\Temporary Inlernet Files\OLK43\Auditor Selection Memo.doc