Kate Becker, CFE with the Cache County Clerk and Auditor’s office, talks with KVNU For the People host Jason Williams on Feb 6, 2023
LOGAN — Outgoing Cache County Clerk and Auditor Jess Bradfield could not be in studio for KVNU’s For the People program on Monday, as he was at the Utah Legislature looking at bills having with do with auditing in the state.
In his place was internal auditor Kate Becker, who is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) with the Cache County Clerk and Auditor’s office. She said there are three types of audits.
“Every county is required to have an external audit annually, that is a look of the financial statement once it is completed. Cache County has always had excellent reviews on their audits, an external audit is just looking for major differences from the previous fiscal year, and to make sure that the county is in compliance with state code, as well as IRS code. Then you have a forensic audit, which is usually called for if needed,” explained Becker.
She said forensic audits are not very common. And then there’s the Internal audit, which is Becker’s focus. It is done to reduce risk and liability on the county and, as she put it, to take organizational design into operational reality.
Becker who finds her job fun and loves math, said a single audit usually takes about a month and she described the process of deciding who to audit and when.
“The county does have a county audit committee, the intent is that that audit committee would set a list of…a wish list, as we would say, of the audits that they feel best are in the need of the county, and then we would knock those out. At present, Jess(Bradfield) has given me a scope of work and then he sets me free to do that, so that’s it’s void of any political affluence.”
Becker said if anyone would like to examine any of their audits, they are available on the county website under the clerk/auditor’s office, under Audits, and are completely open to the public including any back-up documentation.