The State Auditor’s Office has completed three separate two-year audits as a part of the petition audit process for the City of Rolla. Under North Dakota law, the State Auditor’s Office may be called on to audit a political subdivision if enough qualified voters of that entity request one. A total of 93 signatures were needed for the State Auditor’s Office to audit the City of Rolla, the Auditor’s Office received 116 signatures. The current management of the City of Rolla was not involved with the issues identified in the audits.

The City was overdue for an audit with the last one being completed in 2016. The three petition audits included were from the timeframe of 2017-2018 with four opportunities for improvement identified, 2019-2020 with five opportunities for improvement identified, and 2021-2022 with five opportunities for improvement identified.

In both the 2021-2022 audit, and the 2019-2020 audit, the same opportunities for improvement were identified which were:

• Bank Reconciliations not Performed Correctly

The audit team found that bank reconciliations were not correctly completed. After the audit team reviewed statements, it was found that a total of $15,113 was unreconciled from September 2020 until December 2022. Bank reconciliations keep records accurate, prevent fraud, and help manage cash by matching an entity's records with bank records. 
 

• Outdated Accounting Ledger

In addition to the City’s finances, other City entities fall under the “City of Rolla” one of which is the “Job Development Authority”. The audit team found that there were two separate ledgers in the accounting software, when there should have been just one primary ledger. The ledger for the years 2017-2019 was updated, however the ledger for the years 2020-2022 was not updated. It’s important to have these numbers accurate, because the management of the City uses that financial information to make decisions. 
 

The audit reports can be found here: https://bit.ly/CityRolla

“We appreciate the public involvement with their state and local government,” said State Auditor Josh Gallion. “It’s important to note that the current leadership with the City of Rolla was not involved with the issues these audits identified, and we’re hopeful this road map will lead to positive changes for the benefit of the community.”