For the Liberty County Development Authority, it’s one past audit down and four more to go.

The LCDA is completing audits for the last five years, and outside auditor Mauldin and Jenkins issued a clean, or unmodified, opinion of its fiscal year 2021 financial statements.

“We have spent the last year and a half deeply involved in audits and making sure our financial systems and practices were in place so we can be transparent,” LCDA Chief Executive Officer Brynn Grant said. “That has been a lot of work by Beth Hancock.”

Hancock, a CPA, was named the LCDA’s director of finance in 2024, one of the first hires Grant made after taking over the helm of the LCDA.

“When Brynn was hired, there was a mandate to bring back transparency and accountability that had slipped,” said state Rep. Al Williams, the LCDA chairman. “The board was not happy. She in turn hired Beth. They had the mandate from the board and carried it out.”

In the firm’s compliance report, Kirk Arich said the LCDA’s current management team has corrected almost all of the issues from FY21. In the auditor’s management letter, the firm brought to the LCDA’s attention utility billing that had stopped, along with bank reconciliations that had ceased.

“That’s usually a sign something else isn’t being done appropriately,” Arich said.

LCDA member Luke Moses said board members had been requesting bank reconciliations and budgets during those years.

“We had a difficult time getting information during that time,” he said, “which is part of the reason we see a different staff.”

Arich said the firm did not have any disagreements or difficulties with staff in completing the audit.

“There were some findings and some management points, but the management team you have in place has done everything they can to correct those items,” he said. “There is a lot of work they have done.”

Grant said she and Hancock have addressed the issues raised by the FY21 audit and are maintaining the necessary systems. The LCDA also expects to get the next three audits in the next few months, with the FY22 audit done by April 1, the FY23 audit done by June 1 and the FY24 audit completed by August 1.

“Never, never again will we be allowed to slip into the hole we were in,” Williams said. “We don’t have anything to hide and the taxpayers deserve to know where is the money and how is it being spent.”