§ 2802 — Independent audits and audit reports of authorities

§ 2802. Independent audits and audit reports of authorities. 1. State\nauthorities. Every state authority or commission heretofore or hereafter\ncontinued or created by this chapter or any other chapter of the laws of\nthe state of New York shall submit to the governor, chairman and ranking\nminority member of the senate finance committee, chairman and ranking\nminority member of the assembly ways and means committee, each chair and\nranking member of the senate and assembly committees on corporations,\nauthorities and commissions, the state comptroller, and the authorities\nbudget office, together with the report described in section\ntwenty-eight hundred of this title, a copy of the annual independent\naudit report, performed by a certified public accounting firm in\naccordance with generally accepted auditing standards as defined in\nsubdivision eleven of section two of the state finance law, and\nmanagement letter and any other external examination of the books and\naccounts of such authority other than copies of the reports of any\nexaminations made by the state comptroller.\n 2. Local authorities. For the local authority fiscal year ending on or\nafter December thirty-first, two thousand seven and annually thereafter,\nevery local authority heretofore or hereafter continued or created by\nthis chapter or any other chapter of the laws of the state of New York\nshall submit to the chief executive officer, the chief fiscal officer,\nthe chairperson of the legislative body of the local government or local\ngovernments and the authorities budget office, together with the report\ndescribed in section twenty-eight hundred of this title, a copy of the\nannual independent audit report, performed by a certified public\naccounting firm in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards\nas defined in subdivision eleven of section two of the state finance\nlaw, and management letter and any other external examination of the\nbooks and accounts of such authority other than copies of the reports of\nany examinations made by the state comptroller.\n 3. Each certified independent public accounting firm that performs for\nany state or local authority any audit required by this chapter shall\ntimely report to the audit committee of such authority: (a) all critical\naccounting policies and practices to be used; (b) all alternative\ntreatments of financial information within generally accepted accounting\nprinciples that have been discussed with management officials of such\nauthority, ramifications of the use of such alternative disclosures and\ntreatments, and the treatment preferred by the certified independent\npublic accounting firm; and (c) other material written communications\nbetween the certified independent public accounting firm and the\nmanagement of such authority, such as the management letter along with\nmanagement's response or plan of corrective action, material corrections\nidentified or schedule of unadjusted differences, where applicable.\n 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the\ncertified independent public accounting firm providing such authority's\nannual independent audit will be prohibited in providing audit services\nto the respective authority if the lead (or coordinating) audit partner\n(having primary responsibility for the audit), or the audit partner\nresponsible for reviewing the audit, has performed audit services for\nthat issuer in each of the five previous fiscal years of such authority.\n 5. The certified independent public accounting firm performing such\nauthority's audit shall be prohibited from performing any non-audit\nservices to such authority contemporaneously with the audit, unless\nreceiving previous written approval by the audit committee including:\n(a) bookkeeping or other services related to the accounting records or\nfinancial statements of such authority; (b) financial information\nsystems design and implementation; (c) appraisal or valuation services,\nfairness opinions, or contribution-in-kind reports; (d) actuarial\nservices; (e) internal audit outsourcing services; (f) management\nfunctions or human services; (g) broker or dealer, investment advisor,\nor investment banking services; and (h) legal services and expert\nservices unrelated to the audit.\n 6. It shall be prohibited for any certified independent public\naccounting firm to perform for such authority any audit service if the\nchief executive officer, comptroller, chief financial officer, chief\naccounting officer, or any other person serving in an equivalent\nposition for such authority, was employed by that certified independent\npublic accounting firm and participated in any capacity in the audit of\nsuch authority during the one year period preceding the date of the\ninitiation of the audit.\n 7. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a public\nauthority may exempt information from disclosure or report, if the\ncounsel of such authority deems that such information is covered by\nsubdivision two of section eighty-seven of the public officers law.\n