BILL NUMBER: AB 1345AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 24, 2012 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 12, 2012 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JANUARY 4, 2012 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2011 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Lara FEBRUARY 18, 2011 An act to amend Section 12410.5 of, and to add Section 12410.6 to, the Government Code, relating to audits. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1345, as amended, Lara. Local government: audits. (1) The federal Single Audit Act of 1984 requires any nonfederal entity, defined as a state, local government, or nonprofit organization, that expends $300,000 or more in federal money to prepare an annual audit that meets certain specifications and transmit that audit to specified federal agencies. Existing law requires the Controller to receive every audit report prepared by any local public agency, pursuant to the federal Single Audit Act of 1984, and review those reports for compliance with federal law before forwarding them to the designated state agency. This bill would require the annual audit reports made pursuant to the federal Single Audit Act of 1984 to be submitted to the Controller within 9 months after the end of the period audited or pursuant to applicable federal or state law. This bill would authorize the Controller to appoint a qualified certified public accountant or public accountant to complete an audit report if a local agency, as defined, fails to submit the audit report to the Controller by the specified date. The bill would require the Controller to first notify a local agency of its failure to submit the audit report and give the local agency a reasonable amount of time to submit the report before appointing a certified public accountant or public accountant. The bill would require the Controller to report certain misconduct and nondisclosures to the California Board of Accountancy. (2) Existing law requires certain audits to be performed by specified accountants and accounting firms. This bill would require any audit for any local agency to be performed by a certified public accountant or public accountant, as specified. The bill would prohibit a local agency from employing certain public accounting firms to perform an audit, as specified, unless the Controller finds that another eligible public accounting firm is not available to perform the audit. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 12410.5 of the Government Code is amended to read: 12410.5. (a) The Controller shall receive every audit report prepared for any local agency, as defined in Section 53890, in compliance with the federal Single Audit Act of 1984 (31 U.S.C. Sec. 7501 et seq.) and required under any law to be submitted to any state agency, and shall, after ascertaining its compliance with that federal act, transmit the report to the designated state agency. (b) The audit report shall be submitted to the Controller within nine months after the end of the period audited or pursuant to applicable federal or state law. (c) An audit report for any local agency submitted to the Controller pursuant to this section shall comply with the Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. (d) If a local agency does not submit the audit report required by this section to the Controller by the due date established in subdivision (b) of this section, the Controller may appoint a qualified certified public accountant or public accountant to complete the report and to obtain the information required. Any cost incurred by the Controller pursuant to this subdivision, including a contract with, or the employment of, the certified public accountant or public accountant, in completing the audit shall be borne by the local agency and shall be a charge against any unencumbered funds of the local agency.(e) If the Controller finds through a quality control review of the audit working papers of the audit report made pursuant to this section that the audit was conducted in a manner that constitutes unprofessional conduct, as defined pursuant to Section 5100 of the Business and Professions Code, or that there were multiple and repeated failures to disclose noncompliant acts, the Controller shall refer the case to the California Board of Accountancy.(e) Before appointing a certified public accountant or public accountant pursuant to subdivision (d), the Controller shall first notify a local agency of its failure to submit the audit report and give the local agency a reasonable amount of time to submit the report. (f) The Controller shall refer any matters of unprofessional conduct, as defined in Section 5100 of the Business and Professions Code, and multiple and repeated failures to disclose noncompliant acts to the California Board of Accountancy. SEC. 2. Section 12410.6 is added to the Government Code, to read: 12410.6. (a) An audit for any local agency, including those submitted to the Controller pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 12410.5, shall be made by a certified public accountant or public accountant, licensed by, and in good standing with, the California Board of Accountancy. (b) Commencing with the 2013-14 fiscal year, a local agency shall not employ a public accounting firm to provide audit services to a local agency if the lead audit partner 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 local agency for each of the six previous fiscal years. The Controller may waive this requirement if he or she finds that another eligible public accounting firm is not available to perform the audit.