Agenda - 01-24-2013 - 5j - Laserfiche WebLink

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MARTIN STAR ES 3 ASSOCIATES, CPAs, P.A. "14 Professional.Association of C'ertifi'ed F"aahlic flccoiantcints and Management Consnl'tants " September 24, 2012 Orange County Attn: Clarence Grier John Link Government Services Center 200 South Cameron Street Hillsborough, NC 27278 Dear Mr. Grier, It has been a pleasure to provide audit services to Orange County for the past several years. We are looking forward to a long relationship with the County that will allow us to become more efficient in our procedures and offer even better management suggestions as a result of our knowledge of the County's operations. The audit relationship is much more than a commodity product, therefore, the Local Government Commission does not require the services to be re -bid at the end of a service agreement. We are proud of the level of service we offer and believe that to be the reason we have a near 100% renewal rate with our government clients. We would rather negotiate an extension of our agreement rather than subject the relationship to the bidding process. If the County is pleased with the service, then fees are the only variable, and I am certain we can come to terms as it relates to fees. Recently, much talk has been made about mandatory auditor rotations. According to the Government Finance Officers' Association, "the high level of specialized expertise needed to perform a quality audit of a state or local government often limits competition, which means that a requirement to change audit firms at the end of the audit contract could have the unintended effect of forcing a government to engage the services of a less qualified audit firm. Many of the advantages suggested for auditor rotation (such as obtaining a fresh perspective) often can be achieved by rotating staff within the same firm." We are required by our auditing standards to maintain our independence, and we can assure the County that Martin Starnes & Associates takes compliance with the independence standard seriously. We rotate our audit teams as a normal course of business due to staff growth. We reinvent the audit process each year during the planning stage to make sure we are addressing the pertinent risk areas of the County's audit. Therefore, a long audit relationship, if managed properly, is a great benefit to the County. 730 13th Avenue Drive SE ♦ Hickory, North Carolina 28602 ♦ Phone 828 - 327 -2727 ♦ Fax 828 - 328 -2324 13 South Center Street ♦ Taylorsville, North Carolina 28681 ♦ Phone 828 - 632 -9025 ♦ Fax 828 - 632 -9085 Toll Free Both Locations 1- 800 - 948 -0585 ♦ Website: www.martinstames.com