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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

City Retains Accounting Firm

The city of Coeur d'Alene agreed Tuesday to contract the same accounting firm, Magnuson, McHugh and Company, to perform its annual financial statement audit as it has done for the city since 1999. Whether the city takes a deeper look inside its finance department in light of the approximately $365,000 embezzlement uncovered this year will be decided after Feb. 5, 2013 - when the former employee who pleaded guilty to the crime is scheduled for sentencing. In the meantime, the city council said, Magnuson, McHugh and Company remains a reputable firm capable of continuing to handle the city's statutorily required financial statement audit. "That's real life in the outside world," Councilman Woody McEvers said, on the city implementing several safeguards since learning of the six-year theft in the summer. "You get stronger and you get smarter ... That's what growth and life is all about"/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

Question: Did the city do the right thing by retaining the accounting firm of Magnuson, McHugh & Co.?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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