Attn: New IronOaks homeowners
Attention IronOaks New Homeowners – You are eligible for a FREE round of golf for two, FREE week of fitness, FREE week of tennis and BOGO meal at Stone & Barrel or Grill on the Green. All you have to do is call the IronOaks Welcome Group, c/o Howard Lundgren, at 480-369-2015 or email him at [email protected] to receive your new homeowners canvas tote filled with useful information about our community. Please allow 7 to 14 days for tote delivery.
President’s message
As has been previously reported, in the Spring of 2016, the State of Arizona, County of Maricopa and City of Chandler commenced a combined audit of our books to determine if we had properly reported and paid sales taxes for 2012 through 2015. In Arizona, sales taxes are called Transaction Privilege Taxes and are referred to as TPT. Combined audits are the norm.
As you also know, as a part of its contract, Associa was managing our accounting function from June, 2016, until we parted ways in April, 2017. We were left with an accounting nightmare due to practices they put in place. We therefore engaged the services of an independent accountant to clean up the mess. It took several months. He did an outstanding job. It was not until that work was completed that we were able to have our 2016 books audited. We engaged the CPA firm of Butler Hansen to perform the 2016 audit and do our taxes as they had done for us for the previous two years. They were very familiar with the condition of our books before and during the involvement of Associa and the work of our independent accountant. Having a professional accountant is one of the cornerstones of good financial handling. If you are in need of one, always do your research first, looking up accounting firms in nyc, if you are based there, is your first step, you’ll be able to find the one that suits you/your company/your business, that you will feel content with.
Butler Hansen performed the audit and notified us that it was done on December 8, 2017, and that it was an unqualified audit, which is the highest form of certification. They sent us the draft audit and a letter drafted by them for us to sign which included some standard representations from us to them, such as that there was no known fraud, that our books (to our knowledge) were kept in accordance with certain accounting principles and other typical things upon which they relied to do the audit. The representation letter, however, went too far in what we were asked to represent to them – much beyond our knowledge – and, furthermore, made no mention of the TPT situation or what our responsibility was.
We objected to the representation letter as incomplete and asked for a modified statement to be issued which, among other things, dealt with the TPT situation. There were face-to-face negotiations in that regard and assurances from Butler Hansen that they were working on the issue. Fast forward to February 12, 2018, when we were sent a letter from the Butler Hansen’s attorney notifying us that Butler Hansen had withdrawn from association with us and, furthermore, would not release the already-performed and paid-for audit. They have not even offered a refund of the cost of the audit which we paid in full.
We engaged legal counsel in this regard who has spoken with the attorney for Butler Hansen. Our attorney has confirmed the Butler Hansen position as I just relayed it. We are in the process of searching for another CPA firm to do yet another audit of our 2016 books. Not until the TPT audit is completed will we have enough information to properly evaluate the damages caused us by Butler Hansen’s conduct. In the meantime, we have put our internally-done financial reports on the website with the strongest confidence in their veracity.
Be assured, we will not sit idly by and simply lick our wounds in this matter.