IPG’s audit gets ‘best opinion,’ — Richard

Published 6:00 am Friday, June 29, 2018

Iberia Parish Government’s recent financial audit came back with a great opinion from auditors, according to Parish President Larry Richard. 

At Wednesday night’s Iberia Parish Council meeting, IPG received its annual financial and compliance audit for the 2017 fiscal year. The audit was performed by Kolder, Slaven & Co. LLC. The auditors’ responsibility is to express an opinion on management’s financial statements. 

“The parish received an unmodified opinion,” Richard said. “This is the best opinion rendered indicating the financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects.”

The audit also included testing for compliance with federal rules and regulations. For this report, the parish received an unmodified opinion on compliance with each major federal program identified.

Additionally, the auditors considered the parish’s internal controls to determine the necessary audit procedures. An opinion is not rendered on internal controls. During the performance of the procedures, two areas were identified which require the parish’s attention. The first area to be addressed is the timely submission of sales tax returns for the Acadiana Fairgrounds Commission.

Secondly, the Acadiana Fairgrounds Commission experienced an operating loss of approximately $170,000 exclusive of depreciation expense. These areas are currently being addressed by the administration, Richard said.

The parish’s governmental funds reported revenues of $28.3 million and expenditures of $36.6 million for 2017, with an ending fund balance of $52.5 million. Approximately $51.6 million is restricted in accordance with tax ordinances and funding sources.

During the same time period, the parish’s general fund reported revenues of $5.2 million and expenditures of $6.8 million. Included in the expenditures total is $1.7 million which is the result of the accounting adjustment posted to properly reflect an uncollectible receivable with a component agency.

Richard said this will not be an ongoing expenditure. The ending fund balance for the General Fund was $1.4 million; $.5 million was committed and assigned and $.9 million was unassigned. The full report will be posted on the parish’s website.

• The parish president is preparing for his annual “state of the parish” event. 

“Please be on the lookout for the date, time and location of the event and plan to attend as I will spend about an hour presenting information specific to Iberia Parish its current position and future plans,” Richard said. “Last year we had a great turnout and we are looking forward to another successful event. 

“The presentation will differ somewhat from last year. We received some positive feedback from many who attended. If you can’t attend we will post a video of the event on the Iberia Parish website for everyone to view.”

• Speaking of the parish website, Richard said IPG plans to launch a new website Monday. The address for the website will be the same, www.iberiaparishgovernment.com.

“We are attempting to upgrade the site to be more informative for citizens and business owners both already in Iberia Parish and those that would like to locate here,” Richard said.

“In addition, we are trying to make the site more user friendly and customized in way that will present information specific to what is happening in Iberia Parish in a more timely fashion. We have technology which allows for much better communication to all and affords us to be transparent in ways that were not available in the past.”

Richard asked local residents to take a look at the site and give feedback as parish government strives to make it user friendly.