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| Knox County Board Chair Defines "Forensic Audit"; Releases Letter Detailing Audit Procedures |
Knox County Board members have found out the real intent of a special audit two weeks after the results were released. Questions from some board members and the public regarding the investigations into finances of the Knox County State's Attorney and Sheriffs Offices dealt with whether the audit was a special audit, a forensic audit, or neither.
Chairman Allen Pickrel says too many people got hung up on the word "forensic". Pickrel tells WGIL because of the definition of forensic, the procedure which was completed cannot be called a forensic audit. "A definition of a forensic audit is that there is absolute proof that someone has stolen something, and it's a reconstruction of how it was stolen and what procedures they did by stealing it," Pickrel said. "This was as close to a forensic audit as we could get. (The accounting firm) reconstructed everything that they showed missing, and they turned all that stuff over to the proper authorities."
Pickrel says what the accounting firm Carpentier, Mitchell and Goddard was asked to do was an agreed upon procedure to see if anything had been stolen and if and what was improper. Pickrel and Board Member Wayne Saline signed off on the letter of engagement, which outlined the services performed in the audit. The two signatures, Pickrel says, confirm the board understands the nature and the limitations of the services that were provided by the auditing firm.
Pickrel says an investigation is still ongoing involving Special Prosecutor William Poncin, the Illinois State Police and the FBI, but that the Knox County Board is done with the audit and will move forward with the recommendations made.
If you would like to read the letter of engagement issued last year after the audit was agreed to, click here (PDF format).
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| 06 26 08 by Newsroom |
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