(a) The County Auditor shall have a qualified accounting firm conduct an audit of the annual financial report of the Chief Financial Officer and append thereto a certificate which shall state whether, in the opinion of the accounting firm, the financial statements in the financial report:

(1) Contain a proper record of the County’s financial transactions for the year;

(2) Properly reflect the current assets, liabilities, and funded debt of the County as of the close of the fiscal year; and

(3) Comply with generally accepted principals of governmental accounting.

(b) Should there be any qualifications or exceptions to any portion of the annual financial report of the Chief Financial Officer, they shall be stated by the accounting firm in an explicit manner in the certification appended to the audit conducted pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.

(c) A final draft of the report of qualifications or exceptions shall be provided to the Chief Financial Officer for review and comment regarding factual content before it is finalized and released. The Chief Financial Officer may respond in writing and specify agreement or disagreement with the findings and the reasons therefore. Written responses must be received within 30 days from the date of the final draft and shall be included in the final report. Alternatively, a revised final report may be issued incorporating suggested and accepted corrections. The absence of response within 30 days will be noted in the final report.

9 Del. C. 1953, § 1323; 55 Del. Laws, c. 85, § 2; 71 Del. Laws, c. 401, § 59; 75 Del. Laws, c. 139, §§ 1, 2.