Dec. 2—Accountants from the firm Ferrari and Associates are conducting an audit on city finances this week, Beckley treasurer Billie Trump reported Wednesday.

The West Virginia State Auditor's Office requires municipalities to undergo annual audits. Trump said that city officials are required to make all financial documents available to the auditor.

"The auditors will randomly select a representative number (of financial documents) for review," Trump said. "They will spend a week gathering information, and then they will spend several weeks analyzing the information."

Once auditors have analyzed the randomly selected data, they will compile a report.

Previous audit reports are available on the city website at https://beckley.org/finance-department-documents/financial-documents/

Beckley Mayor Rob Rappold said Monday that Beckley was one of the first West Virginia cities to submit all reports to Project Mountaineer, an internet financial platform sponsored by the State Auditor's Office.

"It's funny, but common, I understand, in some municipalities, certain citizens question the way a city handles its finances," Rappold quipped on Monday, when explaining the city's early decision to post financial documents.

He said Trump and city controller Jessica Chandler signed onto Project Mountaineer around four years ago, when it had first became available. The goal is to be transparent with city finances and to keep the public informed.

"It's been very successful," said Rappold.

Ferrari performed the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 audits.

Trump said the state auditor supplies a list of approved audit firms and that the city then requests proposals from firms on the list.

The State Auditor's Chief Inspector Division conducts and oversees more than 700 financial audits of counties, municipalities, boards of education and other miscellaneous local boards and authorities each year, according to data on the agency's website.