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Village of Smithfield Placed in Fiscal Caution

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Columbus – Failure to bring financial records into an auditable condition prompted Auditor of State Dave Yost today to place the Village of Smithfield (Jefferson County) in a state of fiscal caution.

“The village is failing to conduct basic accounting and bookkeeping procedures,” Auditor Yost said. “It’s time to buckle down and correct these weaknesses before matters get worse.”

The Auditor of State’s guidelines for a declaration of fiscal caution include (1) unauditable financial records; (2) significant deficiencies, material weaknesses, direct and material noncompliance that have a material effect on the financial condition; (3) deficit fund balances; (4) a carryover fund balance of less than one month’s average expenditures for two consecutive years, and (5) a failure to reconcile accounting journals and ledgers with the treasury.

Under the declaration, the village has 60 days to submit to the Auditor of State a plan to correct the conditions that led to the declaration of fiscal caution.  The Auditor of State may visit and inspect the entity while under fiscal caution and may provide technical assistance to the entity in implementing proposals to eliminate the conditions that prompted the fiscal caution declaration.

 

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio, is responsible for auditing more than 5,800 state and local government agencies.  Under the direction of Auditor Dave Yost, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies and promotes transparency in government.

Contact:
Carrie Bartunek
Press Secretary
614-644-1111