The Liberty County Board of Commissioners got a resounding approval on their annual audit.

Trey Scott of Mauldin and Jenkins, the accounting firm that conducted the audit, praised the county’s finance department for its work and cooperation in the annual review.

“You all go above and beyond the requirements of a local government,” he said.

Scott said the auditors gave a clean and unmodified opinion of the county’s financial statements.

The county’s finance department also will receive the Georgia Finance Officers Association’s Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting for the 21st time.

Scott said no material weaknesses were found in the accountants’ review. There was one finding, pertaining to segregation of duties in a constitutional officer’s department, an office that does not come under direct control of the commissioners.

“It is certainly prevalent in other counties,” Scott said.

There were four findings in the 2021 audit and two in last year’s, Scott said.

An audit isn’t designed to tell how financially healthy a county is, Scott added, but there are metrics that help show that, especially the capital asset activity, which shows if a county is reinvesting in its capital assets or letting them get older. Scott said Liberty County’s capital asset activity was strong.

“It speaks well of the asset replacement program you have put in place,” County Administrator Joey Brown told commissioners.

The county also had 4.8 months of undesignated reserve at the end of the fiscal year, according to the audit, and a liquid position of 6.5:1.