The municipality quickly turned to blum, well known for its extensive government practice, seeking assistance in getting its financial reporting procedures in line.
blum found that morale in the financial department was damaged, and the community’s governing body was applying pressure to get the department back on track. As a result, the community hired an accounting manager with extensive specialized experience but little in municipal finance.
Both the community at large and nearly 1,700 municipal employees relied on the finance department for proper management of a budget totaling more than $190 million. In the midst of its personnel issues the town was also converting to a new financial reporting system.
blum responded immediately, assisting the new accounting manager on site to educate him on government accounting guidelines. blum targeted the client’s specific challenges and conducted educational sessions on industry best practices to reorganize the department.
blum also worked with the client to extract financial information from the previous year, and provided guidance on compiling information from their new software. The accounting manager was educated on municipal accounting requirements and how they apply in a practical way to critical items of information needed to complete the audit.