(The Center Square) — A summary of audits conducted this year found instances of financial mismanagement, lack of compliance with state law and other issues increased compared to the previous year.
The report by the Florida Auditor General’s office found that of 1,874 audits filed by state officials and certified public accounts contracted by the state of the 1,874 county agencies, municipalities and special districts for fiscal 2022-2023, 298 of these governmental bodies had 585 significant findings.
That’s 13% more than the 520 from audits from fiscal 2021-2022. These significant findings are conditions that could negatively affect an organization, such as fiscal mismanagement.
In a small bit of good news, repeat significant violations reported in one year’s audit and remaining uncorrected for the next decreased by 6%.
Of the significant findings in audit reports, 113 had financial statement material weaknesses (6%), 77 had significant deficiencies (4%) and 30 (2%) weren’t in compliance with Government Accounting Standards and auditor rules.
Last year’s batch of audits were 5% for the first two categories and 2% for regulatory violations.
Of the 585 findings, 164 (28%) were material weaknesses in internal financial controls, 117 (20%) were significant deficiencies and 46 (8%) were noncompliance with accounting standards. Last year, those numbers were 22% for the first two and a slight increase to 9% for regulatory noncompliance.
The number of governmental bodies facing deteriorating financial conditions was the lowest in five years at 31, down from 40 in fiscal 2021-2022, 35 in fiscal 2020-2021, 41 in fiscal 2019-2020 and 44 in 2018-2019.
Among issues found by auditors and contracted CPAs included inadequate separation of duties and responsibilities, issues with budgets, accounting records, financial reporting, noncompliance with control regulations for cash, non-compliance with legal requirements for acquisition or disposal of capital assets, debt administration and weaknesses in revenues and collections.
Twenty two governmental entities were cited for 35 deficiencies related to federal awards compliance.
The auditor’s office also said in the report that two entities — the Leon County Educational Facilities Authority and SWI Community Development District — could be facing financial jeopardy after officials said in reports that there were significant doubts about their abilities to continue as going concerns.