After the previous firm backed out of doing the town audit, the Town Council has approved a new firm to a three-year contract to conduct annual audits of the town’s finances.

At a virtual meeting held on May 20, the firm PKF O’Connor Davies was approved to conduct independent audits for the town and board of education for three years. Every town appoints an independent audit to review the finances for the town.

The company the town had previously used to conduct its audit was set to work with the town for another year, but then backed out at the last minute due to a lack of staffing, according to Town Manager Karl Kilduff.

In response, the town put out a request for proposals (RFP) to find a new firm to conduct he audit.

“The cost for new auditing firm to perform the audit for [Fiscal Year 20]19-’20 is $48,000. The quote received from the prior auditor earlier this calendar year was $52,700. The town reduced its cost by $4,700.”

The auditor’s report is included in the physical copies of the Annual Town Report that are distributed every year at the end of January.

“The auditor performs an independent review of the town’s finances to review accounting as well as special reviews for any state or federal grant dollars that are received,” Kilduff said. “The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) establishes the rules and accounting standards that town must follow and which the auditor will use to confirm the town’s fiscal health. The work cannot begin until the fiscal year is closed. The fiscal year ends on June 30 and then any encumbrances carry out another 60 days.

“In a regular year, we would have already received information requests from the auditor as a lead-up to the auditor work. The real work starts after the fiscal year is closed,” said Kilduff. “The report is given to the Town Council in January.”

Despite the setback with the previous auditor and the need to find a new firm, Kilduff said he does not anticipate the town being at a disadvantage.

“Given the timing of the notice from the prior auditor, we had our RFP out in March and had to expedite our process,” said Kilduff