Clatsop County receives unmodified audit opinion; auditors report no internal control findings

The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners heard on a work-session call that the county’s fiscal year 2024–25 annual audit carried an unmodified opinion and turned up no internal-control findings.

Debbie Blasquez, an auditor with Kuntz Blasquez and Associates, told commissioners the audit report is nearly 170 pages and highlighted the management’s discussion and analysis, notes to the financial statements and the budget-to-actual sections as areas commissioners may want to review. “There were no internal control issues that came about during our testing,” Blasquez said.

Andrew Sullivan, Clatsop County finance director, introduced the firm and thanked Blasquez’s team for guidance on governmental accounting standards. Blasquez also reviewed the single-audit section of the report — the federal-expenditures testing — and said there were no findings there either.

Blasquez flagged a few technical items to watch, including depreciation useful lives and recent changes to compensated-absence calculations; she said next year’s management discussion and analysis will include additional detail required under evolving reporting guidance. Sullivan said he had provided the auditor with a proposed three-year contract and that the audit team would return for interim work in May, follow up in July and complete fieldwork in October.

No formal board action was required at the session and commissioners thanked the auditors for a clean report. The county will retain the audit materials for public review; commissioners were advised to consult the report’s table of contents and the notes to the financial statements for detailed figures and schedules.