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Home My WebLink About972291.tiff Ku MI T)1nnLL R I I-1I CERTIFIED PUBLIC Ici (\ ''`1 ACCOUNTANTS �...,._ PARTNERS John C. Dollarhide Michael J. Frick September 22, 1997 Susan A. Gapter Nicholas G. Kosmicki Marcia L. Siebring Board of County Commissioners County of Weld, State of Colorado Greeley, Colorado We are pleased to confirm our understanding of the services we are to provide for the County of Weld for the years ending December 31, 1997 and 1998. We will audit the general purpose financial statements of the County as of and for the years ending December 31, 1997 and 1998. Also, the auditors' report we submit to you will include an opinion on the following additional information that will be subjected to the auditing procedures applied in our audit of the general purpose financial statements: 1. General, Special Revenue, Capital Projects, Enterprise, Internal Service, and Trust and Agency Funds. 2. General Fixed Assets and Long-Term Debt Account Groups. In addition, we will audit the special reports of the County's Retirement Plan, Treasurer's Office, Public Trustee, County Fair, and Road and Bridge. We will issue an opinion on these special reports as of and for the years ending December 31, 1997 and 1998. Our audit will be a single audit conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards; the standards for financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States; the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996; and the provisions of OMB Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Governments, and Nonprofit Organizations and will include tests of the accounting records of the County and other procedures we consider necessary to enable us to express an unqualified opinion that the financial statements are fairly presented, in all material respects, in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles and to report on the schedule of expenditures of federal awards and on the County's compliance with laws and regulations and its internal controls as required for a single audit. If our opinion is other than unqualified, we will fully discuss the reasons with you in advance. If, for any reason, we are unable to complete the single audit engagement, we will not issue a report as a result of this engagement. The management of the County of Weld is responsible for establishing and maintaining internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments by management are required to assess the expected benefits and related costs of the controls. The objectives of intemal control are to provide management with reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that assets are safeguarded against loss from unauthorized use or disposition, that transactions are executed in accordance with management's authorizations and recorded properly to permit the preparation of general purpose financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that federal awards programs are managed in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. 1901 56th Avenue, Suite 200 / Greeley, CO 80634-2946 / 970-330-8860 / Denver 303-825-1752 oon-zzn-aaan Cifitei4St art FlOZ)2 / q/aye Ale; i-k;G✓41•Fl 972291 Board of County Commissioners County of Weld, State of Colorado Page 2 September 22, 1997 In planning and performing our audits for the years ending December 31, 1997 and 1998, we will consider the internal control in order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinions on the County's general purpose financial statements and on its compliance with requirements applicable to major programs and to report on the internal control in accordance with OMB Circular A-133, and not to provide assurance on the internal control. We will obtain an understanding of the design of the relevant controls and whether they have been placed in operation, and we will assess control risk. Tests of controls may be performed to test the effectiveness of certain controls that we consider relevant to preventing and detecting errors and fraud that are material to the general purpose financial statements and to preventing and detecting misstatements resulting from illegal acts and other noncompliance matters that have a direct and material effect on the general purpose financial statements. Our tests, if performed, will be less in scope than would be necessary to render an opinion on the internal control and, accordingly, no opinion will be expressed. We will perform tests of controls as required by OMB Circular A-133 to evaluate the effectiveness of the design and operation of controls that we consider relevant to preventing or detecting material noncompliance with compliance requirements applicable to each of the County's major federal awards programs. Our tests will be less in scope than would be necessary to render an opinion on these controls and, accordingly, no opinion will be expressed. We will inform you of any matters involving internal control and its operation that we consider to be reportable conditions under standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Reportable conditions involve matters coming to our attention relating to significant deficiencies in the design or operation of the internal control that, in our judgment, could adversely affect the entity's ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial data consistent with the assertions of management in the general purpose financial statements. We will also inform you of any non-reportable conditions or other matters involving internal control, if any, as required by OMB Circular A-133. Compliance with laws, regulations, contract, and grant agreements applicable to the County of Weld is the responsibility of the County's management. As part of obtaining reasonable assurance about whether the general purpose financial statements are free of material misstatement, we will perform tests of the County's compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grants. However, the objective of our audit will not be to provide an opinion on overall compliance with such provisions, and we will not express such an opinion. Our audit will be conducted in accordance with the standards referred to in the second paragraph. OMB Circular A-133 requires that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the auditee has complied with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grants. Our procedures will consist of the applicable procedures described in the OMB's compliance supplement. The purpose of our audit will be to express an opinion on the County's compliance with requirements applicable to major programs. 972291 Board of County Commissioners County of Weld, State of Colorado Page 3 September 22, 1997 Our procedures will include tests of documentary evidence supporting the transactions recorded in the accounts and may include tests of the physical existence of inventories and direct confirmation of receivables and certain other assets and liabilities by correspondence with selected individuals, creditors, and financial institutions. We will request written representations from your attorneys as part of the engagement, and they may bill you for responding to this inquiry. At the conclusion of our audit, we will also request certain written representations from you about the financial statements and related matters. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements; therefore, our audit will involve judgment about the number of transactions to be examined and the areas to be tested. Also, we will plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. As required by the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996, our audit will include tests of transactions related to federal award programs for compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Because of the concept of reasonable assurance and because we will not perform a detailed examination of all transactions, there is a risk that material errors, fraud, or other illegal acts may exist and not be detected by us. However, we will inform you of any material errors and any fraud that come to our attention. We will also inform you of any other illegal acts that come to our attention, unless clearly inconsequential. We will include such matters in the reports required for a single audit. Our responsibility as auditors is limited to the period covered by our audit and does not extend to matters that might arise during any later period for which we are not engaged as auditors. We understand that you will provide us with the basic information required for our audit and that you are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of that information. We will advise you about appropriate accounting principles and their application and will assist in the preparation of your financial statements, but the responsibility for the financial statements remains with you. This responsibility includes the establishment and maintenance of adequate records and related controls, the selection and application of accounting principles, and the safeguarding of assets. Management is also responsible for identifying and ensuring that the County complies with applicable laws and regulations. We understand that your employees will type all cash or other confirmations we request and will locate any invoices selected by us for testing. The workpapers for this engagement are the property of Kosmicki Dollarhide & Co. LLC and constitute confidential information. However, we may be requested to make certain workpapers available to other governmental agencies pursuant to authority given to them by law or regulation. If requested, access to such workpapers will be provided under the supervision of Kosmicki Dollarhide & Co. LLC personnel. Furthermore, upon request, we may provide photocopies of selected workpapers to other agencies. These governmental agencies may intend or decide to distribute the photocopies or information contained therein to others. We expect to begin our audit on approximately October 15, 1997, for interim fieldwork and March 15, 1997, for final fieldwork and to issue our reports no later than May 31, 1997. 972291 Board of County Commissioners County of Weld, State of Colorado Page 4 September 22, 1997 Our fee for these services will be at our standard hourly rates plus out-of-pocket costs (such as report reproduction, typing, postage, travel, copies, telephone, etc.) except that we agree that our gross fee, including expenses, will not exceed $62,500 for each of the years 1997 and 1998. Our standard hourly rates vary according to the degree of responsibility involved and the experience level of the personnel assigned to your audit. Our invoices for these fees will be rendered each month as work progresses and are payable on presentation. The above fee is based on anticipated cooperation from your personnel and the assumption that unexpected circumstances will not be encountered during the audit. Government Auditing Standards-1994 Revision requires that we provide you with a copy of our most recent quality control review report. Our 1996 peer review report accompanies this letter. We appreciate the opportunity to be of service to the County of Weld and believe this letter accurately summarizes the significant terms of our engagement. If you have any questions, please let us know. If you agree with the terms of our engagement as described in this letter, please sign the enclosed copy and return it to us. ' cerely, cez John C. Dollarhide, CPA Audit Partner dbs Enclosures RESPONSE: This letter correctly sets forth the understanding of the County of Weld. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WELD COUNTY, COLORADO By:/a / 4 Georg Baxter, Chair 972291 • SHEPHERD AND COMPANY, INC. Certified Public Accountants A Professional Corporation 333 West Hampden Avenue, Suite 904 • Englewood, CO 80110-2339 • Telephone: (303) 761-5151 • FAX: (303) 781-2541 November 22, 1996 To the Owners Kosmicki Dollarhide & Co., LLC We have reviewed the system of quality control for the accounting and auditing practice of Kosmicki Dollarhide & Co., LLC (the firm) in effect for the year ended September 30, 1996. Our review was conducted in conformity with standards established by the Peer Review Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). We tested compliance with the firm's quality control policies and procedures to the extent we considered appropriate. These tests included a review of selected accounting and auditing engagements. In performing our review, we have given consideration to the quality control standards issued by the AICPA. Those standards indicate that a firm's system of quality control should be appropriately comprehensive and suitably designed in relation to the firm's size, organizational structure, operating policies, and the nature of its practice. They state that variance in individual performance can affect the degree of compliance with a firm's quality control system and, therefore, recognize that there may not be adherence to all policies and procedures in every case. In our opinion, the system of quality control for the accounting and auditing practice of Kosmicki Dollarhide &Co., LLC in effect for the year ended September 30, 1996, met the objectives of quality control standards established by the AICPA and was being complied with during the year then ended to provide the firm with reasonable assurance of conforming with professional standards in the conduct of that practice. Kosmicki Dollarhide & Co., LLC is a member of the private companies practice section of the AICPA division for CPA firms (the section) and has agreed to comply with the membership requirements of the section. In connection with our review, we tested the firm's compliance with those requirements to the extent we considered appropriate. In our opinion, the firm was in conformity with the membership requirements of the section during the year ended September 30, 1996, in all material respects. 4%d_ r7frc 972291 Hello