KPMG said that it would miss the upcoming Feb. 16 target to complete a long-overdue audit of San Diego's 2003 financial statements.
In December San Diego’s City Council approved paying another $2.2 million to KPMG for the audit. The additional spending approval brings the city’s total KPMG tab to $6.6. million, and was marked the ninth time KPMG asked the city for more money to complete its fiscal review.
Earlier in the month, the Big Four firm had expressed confidence that it could finish the work before the close of 2006. No new date was offered for when the audit would be completed -- and for when the country’s eighth-largest city could resume borrowing in capital markets -- though a KPMG partner told local papers that he hoped the audit could be finished within two weeks of receiving revised draft financial statements from the city.
The city's deputy comptroller said that KPMG has raised 360 issues over the past 10 months -- 38 remain outstanding, although the city has responded to two-thirds of those.
The statements cover a period before San Diego was found to have hid financial obligations to retirees. In November, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered the city to hire an independent financial consultant for the next three years, but didn’t levy fines.
