SUBJECT/RECOMMENDATION:
Title
Approve agreement for professional external audit services for five fiscal years ending September 30, 2020 through 2024, with the accounting/auditing firm of Carr, Riggs and Ingram, LLC, for a not-to-exceed amount of $711,700 and authorize the appropriate officials to execute same. (consent)
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SUMMARY:
The City employed the accounting/auditing firm of Cherry Bekaert LLP for external auditing services for the five fiscal years ending September 30, 2015 through 2019. Per City Charter, Article II, Section 2.01(c)(3), the City cannot employ an external audit firm for more than five consecutive years.
The City solicited proposals for external auditing services from qualified firms per Request for Proposal 36-20 issued May 1, 2020. Seven firms submitted proposals that were ranked by the City’s Auditor Selection Committee comprised of: Mayor Frank Hibbard; citizen appointee, Herb McLachlan; and citizen appointee, Lisa Burley.
The committee completed a preliminary ranking of the proposals and three firms were chosen as finalists for oral presentations and interviews: Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC, CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, and MSL, P.A.
Per the RFP guidelines, the committee weighed and combined the rankings of proposals, references, and oral interviews to arrive at a composite ranking for each firm. Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC emerged as the top ranked firm.
The proposed contract includes a fixed fee of $128,000 for the fiscal year 2020 audit, representing a 3.25% decrease from the fiscal year 2019 audit fee of $132,300. Subsequent audit fees are $128,000 for fiscal year 2021, $130,000 per year for fiscal years 2022 and 2023, and $131,000 for fiscal year 2024. A 10% contingency is also included in the funding request to fund expenses related to any significant changes in the scope of the audit due to new governmental accounting and auditing standards/practices, federal grants, or other.
APPROPRIATION CODE AND AMOUNT:
Budgeted funds for this agreement are available in the Finance, Professional Services expense code: 0109821-530100.