Fulton receives clean 2019 audit

Amanda Schultz, Certified Public Accountant and partner at Williams-Keepers, presented the results of Fulton's 2019 audit during Tuesday's City Council meeting.
Amanda Schultz, Certified Public Accountant and partner at Williams-Keepers, presented the results of Fulton's 2019 audit during Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Fulton received a clean, "unmodified" opinion on its 2019 audit.

"The city has receive the (Government Finance Officers Association) Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for 21 consecutive years and expects to receive it again for 2019," said Amanda Schultz, certified public accountant and partner at Williams-Keepers.

Williams-Keepers, a CPA firm with offices in Columbia and Jefferson City, performed the city's audit; Schultz presented the results during Tuesday evening's Fulton City Council meeting.

Schultz said the city prepared a comprehensive annual financial report this year, which contains more information than required by generally accepted financial principles and "is a sign of excellence in financial reporting," she said.

The CPA firm reviewed Fulton's financial statements and found no transactions that were unusual or otherwise suspicious.

"In our opinion, the city's financial statements are presented fairly in all material respects," Schultz said. "That means the users of the financial statements can rely on them."

The firm also found the city's accounting records to be in good order.

According to the auditor's communication letter, the auditor didn't note any new accounting policies for 2019. They also found the estimates affecting financial statements were reasonable.

"We didn't have any disagreements with management on accounting or auditing issues, and we had no significant difficulties in performing the audit," Schultz said.

She noted the firm did perform the audit a little later than usual and some work was completed remotely.

"Given what we heard with the audit, I think a lot of kudos should go to our financial director (Kathy Holschlag)," Ward 1 City Council member Ballard Simmons added.

The City Council voted unanimously to accept the audit.