SUNDRE — Town council has appointed a new auditor to conduct the annual review of the municipality’s finances.
Chris Albert, director of corporate services, said during the regular Sept. 12 council meeting that a request for proposals (RFP) had been issued as per standard practice.
PricewaterhouseCoppers (PwC) previously provided auditing services for the Town of Sundre.
“When we issued the RFP, they did indicate that they would not be submitting a proposal for various reasons of their own,” he said, adding he was unable to elaborate.
Annual audits are required under the provincial government’s Municipal Government Act.
“But it is not just checking a regulatory box,” said Albert. “A properly conducted audit . . . really provides credibility to our financial statements. It provides that objective oversight from a professional and knowledgeable group.”
The municipality received six responses to the request for proposals, he said.
“Out of all the responses, we did choose KPMG,” he said, referring to an international firm whose acronym stands for Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler.
“KPMG has the manpower and the skillset to conduct a good quality audit and to – once again – give council that confidence that our financial information is accurate and follows our processes.”
In their proposal, the firm estimated that the 2022 audit would cost between $55,000 and $62,000, he said.
“That estimate is consistent with the cost that we paid for the last year’s audit to PwC,” he said.
Additionally, there have in recent years been changes regarding how audits are to be conducted, he said.
“Because the circumstances have changed, the costs have increased compared to what you would have seen an audit for a municipality cost five years ago,” he said.
“They have increased substantially; there is a lot more reporting that goes into them now. They are more in line with the audits of private entities, whereas previously they were more kind of check the boxes and go through the steps.”
That means even the lower estimate of $55,000 is already above what was budgeted, he said, adding that departments with cost overruns in one area must find elsewhere to bring the budget back in line.
Following his presentation, there were questions or conversation from council, which proceeded to carry a motion appointing KPMG as the municipality’s 2022 auditor.
