Journal reports on audit

Well, actually, the leadership of the APS reported on the audit,
the Journal printed a cut and paste, from APS' report. link

The Journal did pass along an excuse for the tardiness of the audit report;"

— filed nearly a year late due to personnel issues and
an upheaval in leadership —"

The upheaval in leadership included

• putting their only CPA on administrative leave for blowing the whistle on irregularities in the division,
• "firing" a senior administrator who was the subject of sexual harassment complaints, and
• the firing of the Director of Internal Audit, for spending half days at a casino and a porn shop.

I think it would be fairer to say that the report was filed a year
late because of a lack of standards and accountability
which has existed for as long as there has been an
APS Finance Division.

The Journal did not report on the fact that the leadership of the
APS made a deliberate effort to mislead stakeholders about
the problem. The leadership of the APS wrote;

“The APS Finance Department, under the leadership of
Chief Financial Officer Gina Hickman,
recognizes that for a few years the district wasn’t always
following acceptable accounting practices."

when the truth is, and they know that the truth is; to say
"for a few years" is a deliberate misleading.

The district has never had, and therefore has never followed
acceptable accounting practices.

If they did, they could point to them.
And they could point to, and justify or defend,
the removal of those acceptable accounting practices from
APS policy handbooks.

They can't.

Adequate, written, "acceptable accounting practices"
have never existed in the APS.

They are not telling the truth;

neither the Journal, nor the leadership of the APS.