Town files for audit extension

WINSTED — The town has filed for another extension with the state for completing the audit for fiscal 2013-2014, according to Finance Director Brenda Fox-Howard.Howard spoke about work on the audit at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 20.“There are a multitude of reasons for the extension, but a lot of it has to do with getting all the data together from different reports,” Howard said. “[Town auditors King, King and Associates] gives us a list, then we give them what they ask for. Then we have to wait until we hear back from them if they want additional information on more details on certain areas.”Howard said that the Small Cities Grant line item has never been reconciled in any audit or budget.“That means never, since the beginning of time,” Howard said. “We had to hire a forensic auditor who is going to be giving his final report within the next two days.”Mayor Candace Bouchard asked Howard how long the forensic auditor has been working on the line item.“About 60 days,” Howard said. “That is all he is working on. He has had to look through boxes and boxes of data that has never been analyzed. You are still playing catch up.”Howard said that the lack of reconciliation of the line item has been identified in previous audits.“At this point, this will give you a baseline going forward, so now you will have a starting point,” Howard said. “So for whoever you hire for the audit, they can use this. I cannot answer why it has never been done. It should have been done years ago.”Howard said that the result from the reconciliation “is not going to be pretty.”“I don’t want to speak on the numbers yet because I don’t have the exact lines,” she said. “But the auditor did give me an indication. Part of the reason it is taking so long is that [Former Finance Director Henry Centrella] used paper records. He kept very little automated records because it is very easy to discern. When you start putting piles of papers in boxes and putting them here and there, it makes it even harder for us to go through them to see what the auditor needs. Literally, you have a closet full of those boxes. But I do think we are getting near the end of that era.”