REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ)
Interim Municipal Accounting Services - Year-End Close & Audit Preparation
I. PURPOSE
The City of East Point ("City") is seeking Statements of Qualifications (SOQs) from qualified and experienced Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), governmental accounting professionals, municipal finance professionals, or qualified professional firms to provide interim municipal accounting and financial management services.
The selected consultant will provide technical and operational support to the City's Finance Department during a critical transition period, with a primary focus on completing fiscal year-end close procedures, strengthening financial reporting processes, preparing the City's financial records and supporting documentation for external audit, and assisting the City in achieving timely completion of its outstanding fiscal year audits.
The City anticipates that the selected consultant will provide services related to the preparation and close-out of FY2026, as well as provide technical assistance and audit-preparation support necessary to facilitate completion of the City's FY2024, FY2025, and FY2026 external financial audits, as applicable.
The selected consultant will work collaboratively with the City Manager's Office, Finance Department, department leadership, external auditors, and other designated City personnel.
II. OBJECTIVES
The objectives of this engagement are to:
- Complete accurate and timely fiscal year-end accounting and closing procedures.
- Review, reconcile, and validate the City's financial records across all applicable funds.
- Identify and resolve outstanding accounting discrepancies, unreconciled balances, and unsupported transactions.
- Prepare complete and organized financial records and audit schedules for the City's external auditors.
- Assist the City in identifying and addressing outstanding audit requests and prior-year audit issues.
- Ensure financial statements and supporting schedules are prepared in accordance with applicable governmental accounting standards and City policies.
- Strengthening internal accounting and financial reporting processes.
- Establish sustainable year-end closure and audit-preparation procedures that City staff can maintain after completion of the engagement.
- Provide management with clear documentation regarding unresolved accounting issues, recommended corrective actions, and areas requiring additional management attention.
III. SCOPE OF SERVICES
The selected consultant shall provide, at a minimum, the following services.
A. General Ledger and Fund Accounting Review
The consultant shall conduct a comprehensive review of the City's general ledger and applicable fund accounting records.
Services shall include, but are not limited to:
- Review general ledger activity for accuracy, completeness, and appropriate classification.
- Review and reconcile balance sheet accounts across applicable City funds.
- Analyze unusual, aged, or unsupported balances and recommend appropriate resolution.
- Identify accounts requiring adjusting or correcting journal entries.
- Review interfund transactions and balances for appropriate recording and reconciliation.
- Review fund transfers, advances, receivables, payables, and other interfund activity.
The consultant shall provide management with a written summary of significant findings and recommended corrective actions.
B. Fiscal Year-End Close-Out
The consultant shall lead or provide substantial technical assistance with the City's fiscal year-end close process.
Responsibilities shall include:
- Develop or update a comprehensive year-end closing checklist.
- Establish a closing timeline and identify critical deadlines.
- Review outstanding transactions that must be recorded before the close.
- Prepare or assist with year-end accruals.
- Prepare or assist with required adjusting and closing journal entries.
- Review accounts payable and accounts receivable balances.
- Review payroll-related accruals and liabilities.
- Review compensated absence and other employee-related liabilities, as applicable.
- Review prepaid expenses and deferred revenue.
- Review capital asset activity and related accounting entries.
- Review depreciation calculations and related entries, where applicable.
- Review debt activity, including principle, interest, and related liabilities.
- Review cash and investment balances.
- Reconcile receivables, payables, and other significant balance sheet accounts.
- Review grant revenues and expenditures, as applicable.
- Review interfund balances and transactions.
- Ensure appropriate year-end cut-off procedures are followed.
- Document all material adjustments and provide appropriate supporting documentation.
The consultant shall not consider the fiscal year closed until all material closing procedures have been completed or formally identified as outstanding for management resolution.
C. Bank, Cash, and Balance Sheet Reconciliations
The consultant shall review and assist with the completion of bank and balance sheet reconciliations for all applicable City funds and accounts.
This shall include:
- Reconciliation of bank statements to the general ledger.
- Identification and resolution of outstanding checks, deposits, transfers, and other reconciling items.
- Review of stale or aged outstanding transactions.
- Reconciliation of cash accounts.
- Reconciliation of accounts receivable.
- Reconciliation of accounts payable.
- Reconciliation of interfund receivables and payables.
- Reconciliation of debt-related accounts.
- Reconciliation of payroll liabilities.
- Reconciliation of other significant balance sheet accounts.
- Documentation of reconciliation procedures and unresolved items.
All reconciliations should be supported by sufficient documentation to withstand external audit review.
D. Audit Preparation and Audit Readiness
The consultant shall insure the City's financial records are prepared for external audit and establish an organized audit support process.
The consultant shall:
- Review prior-year audit requests, findings, management comments, and recommendations.
- Review outstanding items from FY2024 and FY2025 audits, as applicable.
- Assist with the preparation of financial statements and supporting schedules.
- Prepare audit lead schedules and supporting documentation.
- Develop an audit request tracking system.
- Organize supporting documentation in a logical and accessible format.
- Review audit requests for completeness before submission.
- Identify missing documentation and coordinate with City departments to obtain required information.
- Assist in responding to auditor inquiries.
- Track outstanding audit requests through resolution.
- Maintain documentation of responses provided to auditors.
- Identify recurring audit issues and recommend process improvements to prevent future findings.
The consultant shall develop and maintain a comprehensive Audit Binder/Audit Support File
E. Financial Statement Preparation and GASB/GAAP Compliance
The consultant shall review the City's financial reporting processes and financial statements for compliance with applicable governmental accounting standards.
Services shall include:
- Review financial statements for compliance with applicable GASB standards.
- Review financial statement classifications and presentation.
- Review governmental and proprietary fund reporting requirements.
- Review fund balance classifications.
- Review net position classifications.
- Review capital asset reporting.
- Review long-term liability reporting.
- Review debt disclosures.
- Review required disclosures and supplementary information.
- Review revenue and expenditure recognition.
- Review accruals and year-end adjustments.
- Identify potential accounting treatments requiring management or auditor consideration.
- Assist City personnel in implementing required accounting adjustments.
The consultant shall remain current on applicable GASB pronouncements and generally accepted accounting principles applicable to governmental entities.
F. External Auditor Coordination
The selected consultant shall serve as the City's primary technical accounting liaison with the City's external audit team for matters within the scope of this engagement.
Responsibilities shall include:
- Coordinate audit preparation activities with external auditors.
- Respond to routine technical accounting questions.
- Coordinate responses to audit information requests.
- Assist auditors in obtaining appropriate supporting documentation.
- Monitor the City's outstanding audit request list.
- Facilitate communication between Finance Department personnel and auditors.
- Review auditor requests and coordinate timely departmental responses.
- Identify potential accounting issues before they become audit delays.
- Participate in audit status meetings, as requested.
- Communicate significant unresolved issues to City management.
The consultant shall not serve as the City's independent auditor and shall maintain appropriate professional independence from the external audit function.
G. Prior-Year Audit Support - FY2024 and FY2025
Because the City is preparing for multiple fiscal year audits, the consultant shall provide targeted assistance in identifying and resolving outstanding accounting matters affecting FY2024 and FY2025.
Services may include:
- Review prior-year audit workpapers and outstanding requests.
- Review prior-year trial balances and financial statements.
- Identify unresolved reconciling items.
- Research historical transactions affecting current balances.
- Assist with preparation of missing schedules.
- Assist with documentation of prior-year balances.
- Research and document accounting treatments.
- Assist management in responding to auditor questions.
- Identify matters that may require prior-period adjustments or auditor consultation.
- Assist in developing corrective action plans for recurring audit issues.
H. Internal Controls and Process Improvement
The consultant shall evaluate key financial processes and internal controls and provide practical recommendations for improving the City's accounting operations.
Areas of review may include:
- Cash receipts
- Cash disbursements
- Bank reconciliations
- Purchasing and accounts payable
- Payroll
- Revenue collection
- Journal entries
- Financial reporting
- Grant accounting
- Capital assets
- Debt management
- Interfund transactions
The consultant shall identify control deficiencies, process gaps, or areas of operational risk and provide recommendations that are reasonable and achievable within the City's organizational structure.
I. Budgetary and Financial Management Support
The consultant shall provide limited technical support related to budgetary accounting and financial management.
Services may include:
- Review budget-to-actual financial reporting.
- Assist in identifying material budget variances.
- Review budgetary accounting classifications.
- Assist with year-end budget reconciliation.
- Identify potential budgetary compliance issues.
- Review the relationship between the adopted budget and accounting records.
- Provide recommendations for improving budget monitoring and reporting.
- Assist Finance management with the development of financial reporting tools for management and City leadership.
The consultant shall not make policy decisions or commit to City resources and shall operate within the authority established by the City.
IV. REQUIRED DELIVERABLES
At a minimum, the selected consultant shall provide the following deliverables:
Initial Financial Assessment
Year-End Close Plan
Completed Reconciliations
Audit Binder / Audit Support File
Audit Request Tracker
Journal Entry Documentation
Financial Reporting Review
Internal Control Assessment
Final Close-Out Report
At the conclusion of the engagement, provide a final report summarizing:
- Work completed;
- Accounts reconciled;
- Audit schedules completed;
- Outstanding accounting issues;
- Outstanding audit matters;
- Recommended corrective actions;
- Process improvements; and
- Items requiring continued attention by City staff.
V. QUALIFICATIONS
Minimum: Bachelor's Degree: Accounting, Finance, or Public Administration. minimum of 7 years government financial experience, with a focus in auditing or accounting, and 2 years in governmental financial management
Preferred Masters in Accounting, Finance or Public Administration with a minimum of 5 years government financial experience, with a focus in auditing or accounting, and 5 years in governmental financial management
The selected consultant or firm should possess:
- Senior Managerial Experience
- Active CPA license, where applicable;
- Experience working with municipalities or other governmental entities;
- Knowledge of GASB standards and governmental GAAP;
- Experience preparing governmental financial statements;
- Experience supporting external governmental audits;
- Experience with year-end close procedures;
- Experience reconciling complex governmental funds;