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2005-2 Electronic Filing of Audit Reports

2005-2 Electronic Filing of Audit Reports

Date: January 14, 2005 

To: All Local Units of Government and all Certified Public Accounting (CPA) Firms Representing Local Units of Government

From: Suzanne Schafer, Administrator, Local Audit and Finance Division, Bureau of Local Government Services

SUBJECT: Electronic Filing of Audit Reports

Audit Reports

Starting immediately, the Department of Treasury (Treasury) is requesting that all audits required in accordance with Public Act 2 of 1968 and Public Act 71 of 1919 be submitted to our office via Treasury's Local Unit Audit Report Upload web site at: www.michigan.gov/treasury.

Michigan Compiled Law 141.427(1) states: "The state treasurer shall prescribe minimum auditing procedures and standards and these shall conform as nearly as practicable to generally accepted auditing standards established by the American institute of certified public accountants. (2) A report of the auditing procedures applied in each audit shall be prepared on a form provided for this purpose by the state treasurer. The state treasurer may require that the audit report, or the report of auditing procedures, or both, that are required by this subsection to be filed with the state treasurer be filed in an electronic format prescribed by the state treasurer." (Emphasis added)

Prior to submission, each user (local units of government and CPAs) must have a User ID and Password to submit audits to the Local Audit and Finance Division (LAFD) via the internet. To obtain both, please call (517) 373-3227. Information needed in order to obtain a User ID and Password is as follows:

1) Organization Name

2) Contact Person

3) Contact Complete Address

4) Contact Phone Number

5) Contact Fax Number

6) Contact E-mail Address

Once this information is obtained, a User ID and Password will be given to the caller. It is the responsibility of the organization or local unit to determine if one User ID and Password is to be used for the entire organization/local unit or if multiple User ID's and Passwords are necessary.

All audit reports filed with Treasury should include the Auditing Procedures Report (496), the Management Letter (Comments and Recommendations), and any other document that is to be included with the audit report. The audit report and related documentation must be submitted in a Portable Document Format (PDF) compatible with Adobe Acrobat.

Although MCL 141.427 grants Treasury the authority, we are not mandating that the audit report be filed electronically at this time. However, we strongly recommend this method of filing. Treasury is committed to improving the filing process of the audit reports and related documentation and reducing the cost associated with a paper document. All audits filed will be available for viewing or downloading on Treasury's website at www.Michigan.gov/treasury.

The audit report and related documentation should be assembled as one document and submitted as one document. The order in which the PDF file should be assembled is as follows:

  1. Auditing Procedures Report (496)
  2. Audit Report/Single Audit Report
  3. Management Letter (Comments and Recommendations)
  4. Other documentation as needed

Other requirements:

  1. Signatures must be hand-written, not typed.

    Tip: The signature can be written on the appropriate page and scanned. The signed document can be inserted into the audit report at the appropriate place. An alternative is to have your signature or that of your firm scanned into a separate graphic file. This separate graphic file can be "cut and pasted" into any document in which a signature is required.

  2. Letterhead must be used.
     
  1. Scan size/file size no bigger than 5MB.

    Tip: If you are scanning your reports using a scanner to create a PDF document rather than converting them directly from a PDF writer, you may be producing very large files. If so, reducing your resolution setting for the scanned documents can reduce file size. Usually 300 dpi (dots per inch) is sufficient. If this still produces a very large file, try reducing the dpi to 150-200. However, do not use a dpi lower than 150 as this level is not of sufficient quality for viewing. Also, color scans are discouraged since this dramatically increases the file size.

  2. Do not include in the PDF file: 1) blank pages 2) "left blank intentionally pages" or 3) local unit logo blank pages. These take up additional file space and are deleted before being posted on the internet.
     
  3. PLEASE LIMIT GRAPHICS, this too takes up file space sometimes causing the need to split the file in half before posting it to the internet.
     
  4. Please include the county’s name on the first page "Title Page" of township audits.

Audit Reports not filed in compliance with the above requirements may be rejected.

Once the local unit audit report is compiled according to the above specifications, you are ready to submit it electronically to Treasury. Go to our web site: www.michigan.gov/treasury.

  • Once you reach our web site, click on "Local Government" listed on the left side of the page.
  • Scroll down and click on "Link to Audit Report Upload."
  • This is your login screen: enter User Id and Password, click "Submit."
  • It then prompts you to change your password. Passwords need to be between 6 and 20 characters long. Once you have changed your password, click "Submit." Please safeguard your password. If misplaced, you must request a new password from LAFD, which may possibly delay the filing of your audit report.
  • The next screen is for uploading audit reports in a PDF file. The system will only accept a PDF format.
  • Click on the first available "Browse" button.
  • Locate the PDF file on your system.
  • Click "open" in the "choose file" dialog box.
  • Repeat if more than one Audit Report is to be uploaded.
  • "Reset" button will erase previous selected files.
  • Click "Transmit" once the file selection(s) is complete.
  • Click on the "Log Out" link when finished.

Please note that files must be in Portable Document Format (PDF). The system will not accept anything but a PDF file and will tell you that the file extension is illegal. It will also inform you whether the file transmission was successful or whether it failed.

Annual Fiscal Reports (F-65s)

Local Unit Fiscal Reports (F-65s) are now being accepted electronically. We have a downloadable file available at: www.michigan.gov/treasury. Click on "Local Government" on the left side of the page, then click on "Forms/Instructions." The file is in an Excel format. Download this form and complete it. Once completed, it can be saved and sent to our office as an attachment via e-mail address: LAFD_Audits@michigan.gov. In the future, the filing of the F-65s will be in a similar format as the uploading of local unit audit reports.

If you have any questions, please call our office at 517-373-3227.