A year after auditors could not account for $3 million in Carpentersville village funds, trustees expect the town’s financial practices to get a clean bill of health from a new accounting firm.
“I am sure the auditor will commend the work that has taken place to straighten out the books and finances,” Trustee Judith Sigwalt said.
The auditor that did the 1999-2000 audit said the village was missing $3 million, an allegation village officials have denied. They say the money was misplaced because of shoddy bookkeeping.
“With a past history of just rushing things through, for years our recordkeeping was very poor,” Sigwalt said. “For years we didn’t have adequate equipment. We even found out that our cash registers were not giving out receipts. It was a culmination of years of having problems.”
Last week the Village Board postponed hearing a report on a portion of its 2000-01 audit. Trustees decided to wait until May 21, when they will discuss a full report from the village’s auditor.
This year Oak Brook-based Selden Fox Ltd., the village’s third auditor, audited the village’s books back to 1998.
Last year, an auditor gave the village an unfavorable “no opinion” audit, citing inadequate recordkeeping, including unrecorded cash and investment accounts. Criticism included leaving unused printed checks and payroll records unsecured.
Michael Majewski, vice president of Selden Fox, said this year’s audit “did take more time than a normal audit,” in part because of the change in village manager and finance director. “Anything we had questions about we were able to find the documentation we needed, but it took a lot of digging,” Majewski said.
“In the manager’s report I will point out suggestions for internal controls.”