Gainesville corrects financial reporting issues; receives clean audit

Published on March 22, 2024

The City of Gainesville has closed the books on five years of difficult financial reporting by receiving a clean financial audit from external auditor Purvis, Gray & Company. The city’s Department of Financial Services completed the Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) on schedule; resolved two findings carried over from past years; and has received no new findings.

The city’s success in achieving this clean financial audit is largely due to strategic expansion in the Department of Financial Services. Over the past two years, Gainesville City Manager Cynthia W. Curry has hired key staff to manage the specialized work of government accounting. The department, now led by acting Finance Director Dennis Nguyen, has added an accounting manager, senior accountant, internal control manager, and financial systems architect among others.

A second part of the solution involved handling complications caused by the city’s 2021 adoption of a new enterprise resource planning system (ERP) to manage functions ranging from the general ledger to payroll and human resources. The transition was lengthy and brought unexpected challenges as data was moved from the old system to the new one. Those delays caused the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee (JLAC) to send a letter in late 2022, reminding the city to submit the Fiscal Year 2021 report by the Dec. 19 extended deadline.

In the wake of those events, the city has made steady progress and improvements. This year, the last two audit findings, related to previous issues with bank reconciliations and methods for closing out accounting cycles, have been resolved.

City of Gainesville – Financial Audit Results by Purvis, Gray & Company (external auditor)

• Fiscal Year 2020 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report – 6 Findings
• Fiscal Year 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report – 4 Findings
• Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report – 2 Findings
• Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report – 0 Findings

“Moving forward, we look to continue enhancing our processes,” said Acting Finance Director Dennis Nguyen. “This includes forging strong partnerships with our other city departments, maintaining the current level of accuracy and efficiency, and continuing to enhance the tools we use to document every dollar spent by the City of Gainesville.”

The Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report was presented to the City Audit Committee on March 18 and today went before the full Gainesville City Commission, where it was presented and approved.