Clallam PUD receives clean audit reports

Published 1:30 am Friday, June 26, 2026

CARLSBORG — The Clallam County Public Utility District has been issued clean financial and accountability audits.

Representatives from the state Auditor’s Office discussed the reports Thursday with the PUD commissioners and staff.

“In those selected areas, district operations complied, in all material respects, with applicable state laws, regulations and its own policies, and provided adequate controls over the safeguarding of public resources,” according to a presentation from the Auditor’s Office.

The statement is “essentially a fancy way of saying we are issuing an unmodified opinion, clean accountability audit,” audit lead Nicklas Sterling said.

For the accountability audit, several areas were examined: accounts receivable, including utility billing, adjustments and write-offs; ordering, receiving and tracking of inventory items; work orders, including tracking and approval of project expenses; open public meetings, including compliance with minutes, meetings and executive session requirements; and financial condition, including reviewing for indications of financial distress.

“The financial health of the district is really, really strong,” Sterling said.

The district received “Good” ratings in cash balance sufficiency, enterprise fund cost recovery and current ratio. Its rating for debt load was “indeterminate.”

“We are pleased to report we are issuing an unmodified, clean audit opinion on the district’s financial statements, and that is the opinion that you want to receive,” Sterling said. “We didn’t identify any concerns in the district’s process that were required to be brought to your attention in the report.”

Additionally, the district will receive a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers’ Association.

“One thing I wanted to specifically take a moment to acknowledge is that we only identified a small number of minor errors in general with the financial statements,” Sterling said. “This continues to be one of the cleanest audits I’ve worked on.”

The audit report is expected to be posted to the state Auditor’s Office’s website next week at sao.wa.gov/reports-data/audit-reports.

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.