Latest news with #auditor
CTV News
a day ago
- Business
- CTV News
Accountant hired by Ramal to confirm accuracy of campaign finances fined by CPA Ontario
The Khalil Ramal election spending scandal reveals his auditor was not licenced and has faced discipline for involvement. CTV London's Daryl Newcombe reports. Salah Hassan's failure to cooperate with an investigation by Chartered Professional Accountants (CPAs) of Ontario has resulted in fines and penalties totaling $13,500 from the profession's disciplinary committee. Hassan provided a written auditor's report confirming the 2022 campaign finances of former mayoral candidate Khalil Ramal. Every candidate who receives contributions or incurs expenses in excess of $10,000 must attach an auditor's report to their financial filing. In August 2023, an anonymous complaint to CPA Ontario, a professional regulatory body, alleged Hassan's work confirming the accuracy of Ramal's campaign finances 'did not meet the standards of the profession'. It cited a story from August 2, 2023 that appeared on CTV News about a meeting of London's Compliance Audit Committee. The news story referred to the unsigned auditor's report included in the campaign's financial filing. The unsigned document read: 'Hi, I am Salah Hassan a Chartered Professional Accountant Licensed by Professional Accountants of Canada, license number 2086643. According to the information provided by Mr. Khalil Ramal, the Mayoral candidate for the City of London, Ontario, for the year 2022 election, after examining the bank statement, donation expenses and Form 4, it appears to me that all the information are correctly entered in the Financial Statement - Auditor's Report candidate - Form 4n. Best regards, Salah Hassan, CPA." 060625 - Ramal Audit Report included by Khalil Ramal with his 2022 campaign finances. (City of London) In September 2024, a ruling by the CPA Discipline Committee determined Hassan committed professional misconduct by not responding to multiple emails and telephone messages from its investigator. 'The nature of the misconduct, being the Member's complete failure to respond to the inquiries of Standards Enforcement, raised concerns about public confidence in the profession's ability to govern its own members,' the ruling reads. He was fined $5,000 for failing to cooperate with a regulatory process plus he was required to pay $8,500 in fees for the hearing. Eventually Hassan contacted CPA Ontario and blamed his failure to respond on health issues, an ill spouse, travel, and a misinterpretation: 'I was in the hospital with my wife and I was so busy with her during the month of September and October and I travelled to Egypt on November 1 for emergency family issues and I returned back on December 26, 2023. I did not have my Canada phone number with me. Please note that I did not violate any rules or regulations in my life or caused any harm to any human being or animals on earth.' The ruling by CPA Ontario states Hassan '… blamed CPA Ontario for the harm to his reputation, reflected a completed absence of insight or remorse.' Subsequently, a Compliance Audit of Ramal's campaign finances by William Molson CPA in April found a number of apparent violations of the Municipal Elections Act including not filing the names/addresses of donors who gave over $100, exceeding the candidate contribution limit ($25,000) by $11,916.27, and using an unlicensed accountant to confirm the accuracy of the document submitted to the city clerk. Molson wrote, 'Hassan did not hold a license at March 31, 2022 or March 31, 2023.' The findings of the Compliance Audit are being forwarded to a prosecutor for possible legal action against Ramal. Hassan's LinkedIn page lists his most recent position as Director of Finance for a business called EK Tech Software Solution. A company by that same name is based in Houston, Texas. However, there is a similarly named company called EK Tech Solutions on Waterloo Street in London. When CTV News called the telephone number included on EK Tech Solutions' website— Khalil Ramal answered. After being asked why Hassan described himself as Director of Finance for the company Ramal replied, 'Yes he did, he did it for a while, for three (or) four months. He did what he did, but he didn't finish. I'm not sure what he did do, but he didn't complete the work for us back then.' A week prior, Ramal was asked by the Compliance Audit Committee what steps he took to verify Hassan was a licensed CPA. At the time he responded, 'The person who I went to was the auditor of a company called Global Financial. I met him there. I know him from there. He has, you know, was an auditor. And also I went to him after that three or four times to audit a few companies.' CPA Ontario confirms Hassan is currently an 'active member', but would not disclose the status of the original investigation about whether his work for Ramal's campaign met the standards of the profession. Unable to find a phone number or email address for Hassan, CTV News accepted Ramal's offer to try to provide Hassan with a reporter's contact information. There has yet to be a response from Hassan.
CBC
22-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Metro Vancouver councillors call for better oversight after alleged misspending and fraud
A Surrey, B.C., councillor is calling for more oversight of city finances in light of allegations that a finance clerk defrauded the city of more than $2.5 million. Coun. Linda Annis said she wants the city to hire an independent auditor general. "It's very critical," Annis said. "The expertise that comes with an auditor general will go a long way to ensuring our taxpayers can have confidence in how city hall is managing and protecting their tax dollars." Annis first put forward the idea of an auditor general in 2021 and is revisiting it in light of a police investigation into allegations that a former City of Surrey finance clerk defrauded the city of more than $2.5 million by cutting hundreds of cheques to accounts associated with herself and her boutique cake baking business. According to a search warrant obtained by CBC News, the woman — who the CBC is not naming as she has not been charged — quit her job in the finance department in January 2024 after she was questioned about what appeared to be a forged signature on some paperwork. That irregularity allegedly led to the discovery of 183 fraudulent cheques written out to the woman's former legal name, her mother and her side business — drawing on funds kept in accounts that had been dormant for years. A warrant issued in March to search the woman's work computer claims Kam Grewal, the City of Surrey's chief financial officer, told police the woman "had been committing fraud since 2017, by exploiting her position and had defrauded the city of more than $2 million." Annis said cities that have an auditor general, like Vancouver and Toronto, "generally do find significant savings and waste through the processes." "I want to make sure we have the best policies and procedures in place now and going forward," Annis said. Coun. Pardeep Kooner, who chairs the audit committee, dismissed Annis's call for an independent auditor general, saying Surrey already has its finances scrutinized by an internal audit and compliance manager. "I'm not sure why we would spend close to $300,000 when we have two positions — one filled, one open — for internal audit," Kooner said. Metro Vancouver area councillors call for more provincial oversight Other city councillors in the Metro Vancouver area say they want the province to boost oversight of municipal spending following revelations of a police investigation into alleged misuse of a city hall gift card program in Richmond, B.C. Richmond's Kash Heed, New Westminster's Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas, and Burnaby's Richard Lee co-signed an open letter to Premier David Eby urging the province to either reinstate an office to oversee municipal spending or expand the mandate of B.C.'s auditor general to include municipal and regional government expenditures. B.C.'s Office of the Auditor General for Local Government stopped operations in 2021. Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon said the province has no plans to revive the office. "At this point we're not bringing in additional measures," he said. Kahlon said that in the cases of Surrey and Richmond "the system is what caught the issue and brought it to light." Heed disputes that, saying Richmond's gift card controversy only came to light after reporting by Global News. "The minister might want to check his facts," Heed said. The City of Richmond said it purchased approximately $446,000 worth of gift cards from 2022 to 2024 as part of an employee recognition program, but found in a recent review that around $295,000 of them were unaccounted for. Richmond RCMP's serious crimes section is investigating. "We would be investing multimillion dollars to set up a system — that would cost a lot of money to the province — in the case of Richmond, to identify where $300,000 went," Kahlon said. Heed says it's much larger than $300,000, pointing to cost overruns at the Metro Vancouver waste water treatment plant, with a price tag that has ballooned to $4 billion. "This is the taxpayers' money," Heed said. "They want some confidence it's being handled with some accountability." Kahlon said "we know there's oversight needed," which is why the province requires local governments to make public their audited financials every year. Michael Favere-Marchesi, an associate professor of accounting and auditing at Simon Fraser University's Beedie School of Business, said a provincial auditor general for local governments must be notified of any financial irregularities, which is why a robust internal audit system is preferable. "My preference is always to have a city auditor because they get very familiar with all of the operations of the city," he said. Favere-Marchesi said a provincial auditor, by contrast, is brought in on a case-by-case basis and lacks the expertise about each municipality.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Madison County Auditor resigns one day after dismissing legal petition
MADISON COUNTY, Iowa – Madison County Auditor Teri Kaczinski, who has drawn scrutiny in recent months for repeatedly trying to hire her campaign manager through different channels, has resigned from her elected position. Kaczinski made the announcement on her official Facebook page Tuesday afternoon. The move comes one day after her legal petition against the Board of Supervisors was dismissed in court. In the written announcement, Kaczinski stated she would work through the end of the fiscal year with her resignation effective July 4, 2025, to 'allow time for the Board of Supervisors to appoint a replacement and for me to help ensure a responsible transition—something I was not afforded when I took office.' She claimed the Auditor's office 'was in disarray' when she assumed it last Fall, and claimed her decision came after 'relentless online harassment, inaccurate and slanted media coverage, bureaucratic harassment by both the media and a small group of people.' WHO 13 reached out to Kaczinski numerous times- in person, over the phone, and through email- for months when alleged issues arose, but Kaczinski rarely ever responded to provide clarification. In response to WHO 13's request for comment on her resignation announcement Tuesday, Kaczinski replied via email, 'I don't speak to the liberal media if you haven't noticed by now.' You can read her resignation announcement in its entirety below: In recent months, many residents voiced concerns over Kaczinski's lack of presence at county budget meetings and the hours she kept at the Auditor's office. Several times WHO-13 went to her office inside the Winterset courthouse and found it was closed. On April 2, citizens were told that Kaczinski was attending an Iowa State Elections Administrators Training (SEAT) in Fort Dodge. In response to public concern, WHO-13 reached out to the Iowa State Association of County Auditors (ISACA), which confirmed Kaczinski was not present for the training. 'Teri Kaczinski did not attend the SEAT training in Fort Dodge last week, however, Mikayla Simpson from her office did,' said President of ISACA, Adam Wedmore. Simpson is the Madison County Elections Deputy. Kaczinski, who had been copied on Wedmore's response, emailed WHO 13 and explained that she had driven to Fort Dodge the morning of the training, but had to return home due to a family emergency. She declined to say what the emergency was. She provided a copy of a virtual gas receipt that appeared to be from April 2 in Fort Dodge. However, the receipt did not contain any information that could identify where it came from or if it belonged to Kaczinski or Simpson. Kaczinski did not respond when questioned about that aspect. In early April, Kaczinski filed a legal petition surrounding a Board of Supervisors' resolution to hire Leslie Beck as a part-time Second Deputy within the Auditor's office for $27 an hour. Beck was Kaczinski's campaign manager during her 2024 run for the Auditor's office, and more recently organized a monetary fundraiser for Supervisor Chair Heather Stancil. The resolution came after multiple efforts by Kaczinski to employ Beck using county funds. Those efforts included twice as an employee of the Auditor's office and a third time as an employee of a third-party consulting agency that was hired by Kaczinski in late January for $250 an hour. Stancil abstained from the vote. Supervisor Jessica Hobbs voted in favor of it, and Supervisor Diane Fitch voted against it, stating she was worried about transparency and the process by which Beck's hiring had been previously handled. The vote created tension during a public BOS meeting, with Kaczinski calling in on a public line and mentioning a potential lawsuit. The legal petition was filed days later. 'I trust the Board of Supervisors will appoint a qualified replacement and ask that the community give that person a fair chance,' said Kaczinski in her resignation letter. 'The office of Auditor is too important to be used as a political pawn.' According to Iowa code, a vacancy in an elected county office can either be filled by appointment for the duration of the term, or through a special election if voters petition for it. The next Madison County Board of Supervisors meeting with public comment will be Tuesday, May 13 at 6 p.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to
