Perfect storm of issues leads to common audit finding

A three-year financial audit by the Washington State Auditors Office found that the City of Medical Lake has had issues keeping track of its internal finances.

But don’t be alarmed, Kathleen Cooper, director of communications for the state auditor said.

“It’s not an usual finding,” Cooper said. “Internal controls are the most common finding. They don’t have enough internal staff to do (the accounting) so they hire someone.”

The audit found the city incorrectly classified $507,023 as unreserved rather than reserved money in its general fund, understated $56,372 in cash and investments, and $70,...