The Honorable Mayor and Members of the Township Council Township of Jackson County of Ocean Jackson, New Jersey 08527
We have audited, in accordance with the auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America, the standards applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States and audit requirements as prescribed by the Division of Local Government Services, Department of Community Affairs, State of New Jersey, the financial statements of the Township of Jackson (herein referred to as “the Township”), as of and for the year ended December 31, 2013, and the related notes to the financial statements, which collectively comprise the Township’s basic financial statements, and have issued our report thereon dated May 07, 2014 in which we expressed an adverse opinion on the conformity of the statements with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America due to the differences between those principles and the accounting practices prescribed by the Division of Local Government Services.
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements, we considered the Township's internal control over financial reporting (internal control) to determine the audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances for the purpose of expressing our opinions on the financial statements, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Township's internal control. Accordingly, we do not express an opinion on the effectiveness of the Township's internal control.
A deficiency in internal control exists when the design or operation of a control does not allow management or employees, in the normal course of performing their assigned functions, to prevent, or detect and correct, misstatements on a timely basis. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Township’s financial statements will not be prevented, or detected and corrected on a timely basis. A significant deficiency is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control that is less severe than a material weakness, yet important enough to merit attention by those charged with governance.
Our consideration of internal control was for the limited purpose described in the first paragraph of this section and was not designed to identify all deficiencies in internal control that might be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies. Given these limitations, during our audit we did not identify any deficiencies in internal control that we consider to be material weaknesses. However, material weaknesses may exist that have not been identified.
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