The San Bernardino, Calif., City Council received a report on the audited financial statements for the 2015-16 fiscal year — the first time since 2010 the city’s audit was done on time, the San Bernardino County Sun reported yesterday. The audit includes four qualifications — the technical term for areas where auditors were unable to complete tests proving the accuracy of the city’s numbers. Finance Director Brent Mason said that fixes are already underway for all those issues. Three of the qualifications follow from the city dissolving its redevelopment agency — as required by state law signed in 2011 — and the city’s inability to find adequate documentation to back up related numbers. That documentation can be provided another way, but it will take more time. The final modification, proper valuation of the city’s compensated absences, is contingent on the final approval of the bankruptcy. None of the issues in the audit relate to the city’s general fund or other major funds used for most city spending. The city filed for bankruptcy in August 2012, after a report by new officials revealed a deficit of $45 million — more than 10 times the projected deficit then-City Manager Charles McNeely had reported at a budget review in April 2012.
