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Law OKs hiring of a controller
$100K position would provide ‘internal counterpart to the external audit’
By Francesca Olsen
The full Board of Supervisors passed a local law to create and fill the position of county controller Wednesday, after a public hearing on the matter fielded no comments.
But what is a controller, and why do we need one now?
The difference between a controller and a treasurer, according to board Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, is that a controller “is much more accounting and audit oriented as opposed to cash management ... this is more what I would call financial management and auditing of control systems and control procedures within the county. It’s more accounting oriented than the treasurer, which is more banking and investment oriented.”
The official job description created by the county defines the position as “responsible for monitoring the fiscal affairs of the county through the performance of complex professional accounting and related fiscal administrative tasks in development, examination, review and analysis activities ... the incumbent audits all claims, accounts, and demands which are made a county charge by law or would otherwise be audited by the board of supervisors.”
Ads have already run for the newly-created position in the Albany Times-Union, and will run in the Wall Street Journal next week, Baer said. The chairman said he plans to pay the new controller around $100,000 per year “depending on the market.”
“We haven’t interviewed anybody,” he said. “We want to get a good group.”
Being a certified public accountant (CPA) is a job requirement. “In order to understand the things the county has to be compliant with ... we feel we need someone in-house who can understand that and not have to rely on external audits for that information.”
An external audit of county finances will still be done on a yearly basis as mandated by the state. A controller, Baer said, is “the internal counterpart to the external audit,” or the individual who makes the accounting entries that are then audited.
Previously, the county’s external auditing firm, Pattison, Koskey, Howe and Bucci, CPAs, P.C., was making these entries as well as auditing them. “They were doing both, and that’s not acceptable,” said Baer.
Baer also said the $9 million in uncollectible receivable funds from the county Department of Social Services was not the only reason the county decided it needs a controller. Columbia County has never had a controller, or an internal audit function.
“It comes from the general need to have more depth in our in-house accounting expertise ... the requirements are becoming stricter, and greater,” Baer said. “We really don’t have an option any longer to go outside to our independent auditors for that support ... at some point, regulatory authorities will require us to do certain things which we have not had to do before ... for all those reasons, I think we need to definitely improve and increase our expertise in this area, otherwise we run the risk of having other potential mistakes found later on.”
A controller wouldn’t actually be doing a full internal audit, but would do “sampling audits” that review procedures or processes in place, to make sure they are working correctly, as well as make sure assumptions the county is making on its assets are correct and making sure receivables are consistent internally (within the county) and externally (with an external auditing firm).
The county controller would report to the county budget officer. Treasurer Ken Wilber is currently budget officer, but Baer said “my recommendation is the chair of the Board of Supervisors, if they are qualified, become the budget officer.”
“It would be me, if I’m chairman next year,” he said, adding that former chairman Gerald Simons was the county budget officer during his tenure. “It only passed to Ken (Wilber) when (Claverack Supervisor Jim) Keegan came in.”
When asked who would report to the controller, Baer said “the exact configuration of who reports to them hasn’t been determined yet.”
No one’s talking
Though the hearing was advertised in public notices and mentioned in several articles that ran in the Register-Star, no residents attended the full board meeting to weigh in on the notion of a county controller.
Austerlitz Supervisor George Jahn asked if the controller would also be budget officer during the hearing; Baer answered that he or she would not.
Jahn told the Register-Star he didn’t know why no residents came to comment. “People don’t get involved unless there’s a ridiculous tax consequence,” he said.
Baer said he wasn’t surprised no one commented. “We don’t get a lot of attendance at public hearings in general,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting a large group to come out and ask questions about it ... maybe I was a little bit surprised that no one came there for that purpose.”
But what is a controller, and why do we need one now?
The difference between a controller and a treasurer, according to board Chairman Art Baer, R-Hillsdale, is that a controller “is much more accounting and audit oriented as opposed to cash management ... this is more what I would call financial management and auditing of control systems and control procedures within the county. It’s more accounting oriented than the treasurer, which is more banking and investment oriented.”
The official job description created by the county defines the position as “responsible for monitoring the fiscal affairs of the county through the performance of complex professional accounting and related fiscal administrative tasks in development, examination, review and analysis activities ... the incumbent audits all claims, accounts, and demands which are made a county charge by law or would otherwise be audited by the board of supervisors.”
Ads have already run for the newly-created position in the Albany Times-Union, and will run in the Wall Street Journal next week, Baer said. The chairman said he plans to pay the new controller around $100,000 per year “depending on the market.”
“We haven’t interviewed anybody,” he said. “We want to get a good group.”
Being a certified public accountant (CPA) is a job requirement. “In order to understand the things the county has to be compliant with ... we feel we need someone in-house who can understand that and not have to rely on external audits for that information.”
An external audit of county finances will still be done on a yearly basis as mandated by the state. A controller, Baer said, is “the internal counterpart to the external audit,” or the individual who makes the accounting entries that are then audited.
Previously, the county’s external auditing firm, Pattison, Koskey, Howe and Bucci, CPAs, P.C., was making these entries as well as auditing them. “They were doing both, and that’s not acceptable,” said Baer.
Baer also said the $9 million in uncollectible receivable funds from the county Department of Social Services was not the only reason the county decided it needs a controller. Columbia County has never had a controller, or an internal audit function.
“It comes from the general need to have more depth in our in-house accounting expertise ... the requirements are becoming stricter, and greater,” Baer said. “We really don’t have an option any longer to go outside to our independent auditors for that support ... at some point, regulatory authorities will require us to do certain things which we have not had to do before ... for all those reasons, I think we need to definitely improve and increase our expertise in this area, otherwise we run the risk of having other potential mistakes found later on.”
A controller wouldn’t actually be doing a full internal audit, but would do “sampling audits” that review procedures or processes in place, to make sure they are working correctly, as well as make sure assumptions the county is making on its assets are correct and making sure receivables are consistent internally (within the county) and externally (with an external auditing firm).
The county controller would report to the county budget officer. Treasurer Ken Wilber is currently budget officer, but Baer said “my recommendation is the chair of the Board of Supervisors, if they are qualified, become the budget officer.”
“It would be me, if I’m chairman next year,” he said, adding that former chairman Gerald Simons was the county budget officer during his tenure. “It only passed to Ken (Wilber) when (Claverack Supervisor Jim) Keegan came in.”
When asked who would report to the controller, Baer said “the exact configuration of who reports to them hasn’t been determined yet.”
No one’s talking
Though the hearing was advertised in public notices and mentioned in several articles that ran in the Register-Star, no residents attended the full board meeting to weigh in on the notion of a county controller.
Austerlitz Supervisor George Jahn asked if the controller would also be budget officer during the hearing; Baer answered that he or she would not.
Jahn told the Register-Star he didn’t know why no residents came to comment. “People don’t get involved unless there’s a ridiculous tax consequence,” he said.
Baer said he wasn’t surprised no one commented. “We don’t get a lot of attendance at public hearings in general,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting a large group to come out and ask questions about it ... maybe I was a little bit surprised that no one came there for that purpose.”
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of registerstar.com.
phl1m wrote on Nov 14, 2009 7:43 AM:
" Is the reason we need a controller because the treasurer and DSS commissioner (and auditing firm) weren't doing their jobs? Let's hope not...we certainly don't need to spend another 100k job plus benefits to replace incompetence. "
JFromKinderhook wrote on Nov 14, 2009 9:08 AM:
" We now have a $9,100,000.00 problem with the county budget. I would think that rather than run out and create a new position, the hopefully erstwhile County Chair would consider replacing the Commissioner of DSS, from whence the problem came. And a $100,000 salary in this economy? Did he pulll that number out of a hat? Forget about the lack of attendance at the public hearing for a minute. It seems that not one of the other Supervisors had anything to say about the matter either, except the two that noted the lack of public comment. Hopefully next year will be different with new board members and new leadership. I recommend waiting to hire until January 1st. "
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stonepound wrote on Nov 14, 2009 6:50 AM: