2000-309 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

and not to provide assurance on the internal control stricture, The Auditor will also, as discussed later, consider and test the County's internal policies and procedures used in administering federal financial assistance programs. The management of the County is responsible for establishing and maintaining an internal control structure. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments by management are required to assess the expected benefits and related costs for internal control structure policies and procedures. The objectives of an internal control structure are to provide management with reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that assets are safeguarded against loss from unauthorized use or disposition, and that transactions are executed in accordance with management's authorization and recorded properly to permit the preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Because ofthe inherent limitations in any internal control structure, errors or irregularities may nevertheless occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any evaluation of the structure to future periods is subject to the risk that procedures may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the effectiveness of the design and operation of policies and procedures may deteriorate. As required by government auditing standards, the Auditor will prepare a separate written report on their understanding of the County's internal control structure and the assessment of control risk made as part of the financial statement audit. The report will include: (1) the scope of their work in obtaining an understanding of the internal control structure and in assessing the control risk, (2) the County's significant internal controls or control structure including the controls established to ensure compliance with laws and regulations that have a material impact on the general-purpose financial statements, and (3) the reportable conditions, including the identification of material weaknesses, identified as a result of their work in understanding and assessing control risk. The audit will include procedures designed to provide reasonable assurance of detecting errors and irregularities that are material to the general-purpose financial statements. As the County is aware, however there are inherent limitations in the auditing process. For example, audits are based on the concept ofselective testing of the data being examined and are, therefore, subject to the limitation that such matters, if they exist, may not be detected. Also, because of the characteristics ofirregulanties, including attempts at concealment through collusion and forgery, a properly designed and executed audit may not detect a material irregularity. Similarly, in performing the audit, the Auditor will be aware of the possibility that illegal acts may have occurred. However, it should be recognized that the audit provides no assurance then illegal acts generally will be detected, and only reasonable assurance that illegal acts having a