The audit for the 2011 fiscal year was not the first to be late.  The New Mexico Finance Authority in prior years has failed to meet the statutory deadline for submitting its financial statement to the New Mexico State Auditor.  But FY 2011 was the first year the authority failed altogether to submit an audit and instead faked the financial statement in its own files and what it provided to investors.  That strange set of circumstances has led the New Mexico Auditor General to call in the FBI.

See:  $1.26 Billion in NM Bonds Face Downgrade After Discovery of Fraudulent NMFA Audit

According to the audit of the 2010 fiscal year, NMFA failed to meet the deadline  set by the State Auditor, as well as the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.  Since NMFA disburses federal funds it is subject to some federal audit requirements.

NMFA also failed to meet its audit deadline for the 2009 fiscal year.  No failure to meet the deadline was reported in the 2008 audit.

All the audits since 2008 describe NMFA as a low auditing risk agency.  Since 2009, the audits have been conducted by the national accounting firm of Clifton Gunderson.  The 2008 audit was conducted by the Albuquerque, New Mexico firm of Meyners & Co.  The forgery of the 2011 audit utilized cover and signature pages from a Clifton Gunderson audit of the agency, but the audit information the document contained was not Clifton Gunderson’s work product.

In each instance in 2009 and 2010 where its noncompliance with the audit deadline was pointed out, the authority’s management responded with a boilerplate, “The Authority’s management agrees with this finding. We understand the importance of the rule and intend to comply in the future.”

Related story on NMFA’s fake 2011 audit:  State Auditor Announces Investigation of NMFA’s Fraudulent Audit