Beaumont has Now has Gone Three (3) Years Without Any Audited Financial Statements. Is Forged Better than Nothing?
The Auditing Firm of Moss Levy Hartzheim has been Auditing the City of Beaumont’s Financial Reports since 1994. Best Business Practices suggest Auditing Firms are changed every 5-7 years. Federal Law demands that Issuers of Bonds change their Auditing Firms every five (5) years.
1934 SEC. 10A. AUDIT REQUIREMENTS.
(j) AUDIT PARTNER ROTATION. “It shall be unlawful for a registered public accounting firm to provide audit services to an issuer if the lead (or coordinating) audit partner (having primary responsibility for the audit), or the audit partner responsible for reviewing the audit, has performed audit services for that issuer in each of the 5 previous fiscal years of that issuer.”
The Auditing Firm of Moss Levy Hartzhiem is also partnered with ERMAC, the City’s ‘self insurance’ for which former Risk Manager James Gregg is Principal.
The City of Beaumont has been forging their Financial Statements for over 20 years. The 2013/2014 Audit was so riddled with forged statements and material misstatements that the Beaumont City Council rejected the Audit 2014.
On November 3, 2014 the City established a faux Finance Committee controlled by former Finance Director Bill Aylward. Aylward told Council that Moss Levy had already started the 2013/2014 Audit.
On February 17, 2015, Agenda Item 7.h., a phony RFP was created to hire an Auditing Firm to Audit the City’s upcoming 2014/2015 Financial Statements.
On March 23, 2015 the 2013/2014 Audit prepared by Moss Levy was submitted to Council. The Auditing Firm of Moss Levy Hartzheim did not present the Audit to Council.
On April 7, 2015 the 2014 Audit prepared by Moss Levy was rejected by the Beaumont City Council.
TO THIS DAY the City of Beaumont has refused to submit their 2013/2014 Financial Statements to an Auditing Firm.
Finance Director 3rd Onyx Jones told Council that they can’t submit the Audit to another Auditing Firm, and that is true. It is not the AUDIT that is submitted to another Auditing Firm, it is the FINANCIAL STATEMENTS that are submitted.
The correct procedure has been explained to Council numerous times, but they hold on to their lie and refuse to submit the 2014 Financial Statements to another Auditing Firm.
On August 18, 2015 the Beaumont City Council Approved Agenda Item 8.g awarding the 2014/2015 Audit to Van Lant & Fankhanel: http://www.ci.beaumont.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/26323
The story told by City Treasurer Nancy Carroll and the faux Finance Committee is that Van Lant & Fankhanel was the only Auditing Firm to reply to the RFP. When asked for documentation City Treasurer Carroll stated that she ‘called around’ and had no documentation.
Although the Fiscal Year 2015 closed on June 30, 2015, the City of Beaumont did not submit their Financial Statements to the Auditing Firm until a Spring, 2016, when Finance Director 4th Melana Taylor was hired to forge the City’s Financial Statements – and she did.
On April 4, 2016, the faux Finance Committee announced that the Auditing Firm was currently Auditing the City’s 2014/2015 Financial Statements and recommended ignoring State Law requiring Bid Contracts and hiring the Auditing Firm of Van Lant & Fankhanel to Audit the Financial Statements for Fiscal year 2015/2016.
A Public Records Request of the General Ledger from July 1, 2014 thru June 30, 2015, revealed that the numbers that had been forged by Bill Aylward in the past had once again been forged by Melana Taylor, CPA.
On May 8, 2016 Judy Bingham presented the Auditing Firm of Van Lant & Fankhanel the backup documentation proving that the $72 Million claimed as Sewer Machinery & Equipment, the $21.5 Million IOU from RDA to the City, and the $200 Million ‘we own the bonds’ entry are all forged.
The Documents were also given to every Member of the faux Finance Committee, City Treasurer Carroll, Mayor Mike Lara, Mayor Pro-Tem Lloyd White, City Manager 3rd Warne, and I personally handed the documents to Onyx Jones, former Finance Director 3rd.
On July 7, 2016 Council unanimously Approved Agenda Item 3.c., a forged Sewer Financial Statement.
It takes six weeks to complete an Audit.
It is unknown when the forged financial statements was submitted to Auditing Firm, but it was before April, 2016.
The faux Finance Committee, of which Mayor Lara, Pro-Tem White, and City Treasurer Carroll are Members, changed their name to the ‘Finance and Audit Committee’, but removed discussion about the 2015 Audit from the Agenda in May.
The Beaumont City Council no longer mentions the Audit.
We have now learned that the Auditing Firm of Van Lant & Fankhanel has declined to Audit the City’s forged Financial Statements. It is unknown how long the Beaumont City Council and faux Finance Committee has known the Auditing Firm refuses to Audit the City’s forged Financial Statements. It has not been announced to the Public and no attempt has been made to hire another Auditing Firm.
The City of Beaumont 2015/2016 Fiscal Year closed June 30, 2016. The City now has gone three (3) years without any Audited Financial Statements.
If the City Council and faux Finance Committee had submitted the 2014 Financial Statements to an Auditing Firm they could blame the past forged financial statements on past Council and Staff. But the CURRENT COUNCIL and CURRENT STAFF produced forged Financial Statements.