The Town of Altona finally has financial audits that are up to date. Town council recently approved its 2015 financial audit.

Altona, like many other municipalities, fell behind in its audits shortly after 2009 when CPA Canada required all governments across the country to adopt Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) generally accepted accounting practices.

"That move created a big problem because there was a lack of capacity within municipalities to handle that change," said Dan Gagne, Altona's Chief Administrative Officer. "As a result, everything fell back onto the auditors who were overwhelmed with the amount of work, and it just created a backlog all over the province."

The Association of Manitoba Municipalities and Manitoba Municipal Government undertook a joint venture to help municipalities adopt the PSAB accounting guidelines by forming a steering committee comprised of representatives from the AMM, the Manitoba Municipal Administrators Association, and the Province of Manitoba.

Even though it has taken about six years to straighten out, Gagne says it appears most municipal governments have been able to catch up on their financial audits.