NATCHEZ — An analysis of filings with the Mississippi state auditor’s office show that late audits have become the norm for two of the three tax-levying bodies in Adams County.

The Natchez-Adams School District stands out among the three, having received its reports from independent auditors prior to the deadline every time in the last 10 years.

From the audit years for 2005 to the present, Adams County has only received its report on time once — for the 2005 year.

The City of Natchez fared better. Its audits were signed and dated by auditors on time five times in that 10-year period. The last time that happened, however, was for the 2011 audit year.

Adams County and the City of Natchez are now both seven months late on the 2014 audit.

“With these audits, somebody goes in there with an outside set of eyes to put the financial information on a piece of paper so everyone knows taxes are being spent for what they are being taxed for, that all the money is going where it needs to be going and is being accounted for properly,” said Tom Chain with the technical assistance division of the Mississippi State Auditor’s Office. “Audits are used for credit ratings, for grants, and everybody likes to see that everybody is paying attention to how they are spending money. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be ‘materially correct.’”

When those reports are late, that accountability is put on hold.

The state requires governments and municipalities to have independent audits by certified public accounting firms completed by nine months after the end of their fiscal year.

In the case of the city and county governments, the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, and audits are due June 30 of the following year.

For the school district, the fiscal year ends June 30, making audits due at the end of March of the following year.

Looking at the late government bodies, the trend toward extreme tardiness has been exacerbated with each passing year.

In Natchez, the last on-time audit was signed and dated by the auditor June 29, 2012. The next year, it was dated Aug. 30, and the next year, Dec. 17. The clock is still ticking for when the latest audit will be signed, submitted to the city and ultimately sent to the state.

In Adams County during that same period, the audits were completed Oct. 9, 2012; Sept. 16, 2013 and Nov 18, 2014. Prior to the 2011 audit — the Oct. 2012 filing — the county’s audits were late, but three of them were completed in August and one in July.

These dates only account for when the auditor completed and signed the report, not for when it was accepted by the state.

Officials with the City of Natchez’s clerk’s office have said the 2014 audit was delayed on their part — and not the auditors — because changes in staffing caused by a June resignation delayed them preparing the necessary materials.

Natchez Mayor Pro Tem Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said the City of Natchez’s recent spate of late audits were part of a rolling chain of events.

It started when the data processor for the clerks’ office, Gary Valentine — who handled much of the work getting audit materials together — died in 2013. The city then had problems implementing its new Springbrook accounting software, and in the subsequent years has seen four accountants come and go, she said.

Those problems pushed the city›s budgeting process back, which in turn affected the auditing timeline, Arceneaux-Mathis said.

The coming change in the city clerk›s office, when Wendy McClain takes over for retiring clerk Donnie Holloway, could help turn around the trend in another year, she said. While Holloway is an elected official, McClain will be the first person to serve as an appointed clerk after the city changed its charter last year.

«I think it may be another year, but I think with Wendy›s knowledge — she has a strong background in government accounting and a network of people she can contact around the state — I don›t believe we will be looking at this (late audit situation),» Arceneaux-Mathis said.

The key to getting an earlier audit for the 2014-2015 fiscal year will be getting the already-late 2013-2014 audit completed, she said.

«Wendy is working with (the auditors) to get the 2014 audit wrapped up, and after that I believe she should be able to get them the materials for 2015,» Arceneaux-Mathis said.

County Administrator Joe Murray said the county’s late audit for 2014 was done in two phases, a financial compilation phase by Silas Simmons and the auditing process itself, by The Gillon Group.

“The engagement letter to Silas Simmons for the financial compilation portion of the county’s audit was done at the end of January 2015,” Murray said in an email.  “They worked on this phase (until) it was complete, which to my understanding was then delivered by Silas Simmons to Gillon around (Sept. 17, 2015).  Gillon, at this time began the audit process.”

Adams County Board of Supervisors President Mike Lazarus said one delay in the audit is auditors have said they had some trouble tracking down information about some grants.

“We need to sit down and communicate the real reason they are taking so long,” he said. “At the end of the day, we enter into a contract with somebody, and maybe we need to add some financial penalties into the contract for if it is late. I am confident in Joe when he says they have been given everything they need, but if it is something on our end, we need to know about it.”

What may slow down an audit could be a multi-faceted answer, Chain said.

“There is a whole lot that goes into an audit,” Chain said. “There are standards a CPA firm has to follow to get certified with the state, and they have their in-house standards. And with municipalities and their budgets, it is a little more difficult than just throwing numbers on a piece of paper — that’s why one might get done in a month and one in a year.”

Even if a report is late, it may not qualify as “non-compliant” under the law.

In the case of the municipality, the auditor’s office could issue a certificate of non-compliance and hold its money from the tax commission until the auditor can hire a CPA firm to complete the audit, he said.

County governments can lose funding directed from federal sources, as Adams County did briefly in 2012.

But before the step of issuing a certificate of non-compliance is taken, the auditor’s office looks to see if the body in question is “substantially complaint” with the law.

“We are looking to say, ‘Why hasn’t it happened,’ and we are looking to make sure they have contracted with a CPA, that the CPA is in good standing with the state board of accounting and we will call the CPA and discuss why that is,” Chain said.

While each matter is reviewed on a case-by-case basis, having a CPA firm engaged, “is certainly a good step in the right direction to be substantially complaint,” he said.

“If (the CPA firm is) having that problem, there is a good chance another CPA firm would have that same problem.”

Murray — who is president of the Mississippi Association of County Administrators and Comptrollers — has said the problem of late audits, at least for county governments has been a long-time, statewide problem. For example, with the 2014 audit, only three counties had it completed and filed in a timely manner.

Since 2005, Adams County has had five auditors: Switzer, Hopkins & Mange for the 2005 to 2007 audits; the state auditor’s office completed the audit in 2008; Windham & Lacey in 2009 and 2010; Neiman & Associates in 2011 and 2012; and the Gillon Group for 2013 and 2014.

The City of Natchez’s auditors included Smith, Turner & Reeves in 2005 and 2006; and The Gillon group since 2007.

The NASD’s auditors included Silas Simmons in 2005 and 2006, again in 2008 through 2010, and for 2014; Smith, Turner & Reeves in 2007; and The Gillon Group in 2011 through 2013.