McLean County receives cleanest rating for audit
McLean County received the cleanest rating a county can receive for its 2023 audit report.
During the Nov. 25 McLean County Commission meeting, North Dakota Legislative Auditor Jared Mack presented the state’s findings for the fiscal year ending December 2023, which gave McLean County an unmodified opinion.
“An unmodified opinion is the cleanest opinion,” Mack said.
During his presentation, which he did by phone as the weather conditions made traveling to Washburn difficult during the meeting, Mack reviewed four findings for the commissioners to consider.
Mack noted the financial statements provided from the county to the state auditing team were done on a cash-basis practice. To meet state laws, moving forward, the county will need to prepare financial statements on a Generally Accepted Accounting Principles – or GAAP – basis. Mack described the Century Code referencing this requirement as “stale,” but noted it still needed to be done, and the 2023 audit would be last year the state accepts cash-basis accounting for financial statements.