Jefferson County today announced the selection of a new auditor.  Gordon, Hughes, & Banks, LLP will conduct auditing functions for Jefferson County's 2005 fiscal year.

The company will conduct two audits during the year.  The first, will be the audit of the county's financial statements to be used in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and will be completed by May 31, 2006.  The second will be the Single Audit Report, which is a federal requirement.  This will be completed by September 30, 2006.

"We are excited to be working with a quality firm like Gordon, Hughes, & Banks," said Accounting Director Alan Boisvert. "The two-phase approach they will be implementing will reduce costs and will allow county employees to focus their efforts on the needs of our citizens."

During the past year, the county has employed KPMG, LLP, a big four accounting firm to review the County's financial statements and provide an opinion on the single audit report to the Federal Government.  In addition KPMG did an extensive review of the County's internal control procedures, which added to the normal cost of a financial opinion audit.

Gordon, Hughes, & Banks is a Colorado CPA firm founded in 1969 with six offices in Colorado, including Golden.  The County anticipates that the selection of GH&B, and the use of its own internal audit staff will result in significant audit cost savings.  The savings could be as much as $500,000 over the County's costs for the 2004 audit.