During her campaign for state auditor, Platte County Auditor Sandra Thomas has proclaimed the awards she has won in her present post as one of her qualifications.
A Platte County Landmark story says she paid another company to do the work that turned her county's audits into award-winners. The charge was leveled by the campaign of her opponent, Susan Montee, but was not denied by Thomas, who did not make any comment, but instead deferred the question to Jeff Roe of Axiom Strategies, which is running her campaign:
In her bid to become the next Missouri state auditor and on her campaign Web site, Thomas frequently highlights her nine instances of receiving the annual "Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program," an award sponsored by the Government Finance Officers Association.
"Thomas bases her campaign on her status as an 'award-winning CPA' and claims that her office produces the award-winning reports. The fact is that she pays an outside auditor thousands of dollars every year to win this award and then claims credit,"claims Sean Spence, Montee's campaign manager.
Siobhann Williams, who is a certified public accountant, pledged on Monday that, if elected as the next Platte County auditor, she will immediately end the practice of paying an outside auditor extra money to complete reports in a format specifically geared toward winning an award.
"These financial duties should be done in-house. That's why it's appropriate to have a CPA as the county auditor," Williams said.
"Platte County pays Troutt, Beeman & Co., of Harrisonville, its external auditor extra money, over and above its fee to perform the county's annual external audit, to submit its annual report in the Government Finance Officers Association-suggested format specifically so Platte County may win the "Certificate of Achievement in Financial Reporting," Williams said on Tuesday.
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