Columbus -

A recent financial audit of the City of Ashland by Auditor of State Dave Yost’s office has returned a clean audit report. The City of Ashland’s excellent record keeping has earned it the Auditor of State Award with Distinction.

“Good finance is important to everything government does. We can't expect good decisions by the mayor, good management by the executives, or sound budgetary decisions by council unless the books are clean and accurate,” Auditor Yost said. “I am pleased to present to the city the Auditor of State Award with Distinction.”

The Auditor of State Award with Distinction is presented to local governments and school districts upon the completion of a financial audit. Entities that receive the award meet the following criteria of a “clean” audit report:

• The entity must file timely financial reports with the Auditor of State’s office in the form of a CAFR (Comprehensive Annual Financial Report);
  
  
• The audit report does not contain any findings for recovery, material citations, material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, Single Audit findings or questioned costs;
  
  
• The entity’s management letter contains no comments related to:
  • Ethics referrals
  • Questioned costs less than $10,000
  • Lack of timely report submission
  • Reconciliation
  • Failure to obtain a timely Single Audit
  • Findings for recovery less than $100
  • Public meetings or public records