EDASC receives clean financial audit

EDASC recently received a clean audit of its finances. 

This is the first audit since EDASC and the EDASC Foundation merged in 2019, and EDASC assumed 501c3 status (having previously been a 501c6). 

“Because we hadn’t had an audit since the merger, the board and management thought it was time to initiate one,” EDASC Director of Finance & Administration Audra Ramerman said. “We waited an extra year so that we could look at a post-pandemic year, 2022, to give us a snapshot of a more typical year.”

As a nonprofit, the organization must follow specific accounting and reporting procedures, different from a for-profit corporation. 

“This was my first foray into nonprofit accounting audits, so I had to shift my thinking on ways to do things,” noted Ramerman, who came to EDASC in 2017 after a 20-year career in manufacturing.

She credits both the EDASC Finance & Audit Committee and Keaton Wersen of Wersen Nonprofit CPAs LLC, for their guidance and assistance in creating a strong financial picture. 

“Keaton is the go-to in our community for nonprofit accounting, and his guidance has been invaluable,” Ramerman said.

EDASC’s board leadership recognizes the audit’s importance as well.

“A clean audit is the result of diligent work to effectively and transparently manage our assets for the good of our community, and state. I couldn’t be prouder of our staff and their continued commitment to excellence,” said Dan Worra, executive director of the Port of Anacortes and an EDASC board member.

“Obtaining these results, especially after the challenges of the pandemic, wouldn’t have been possible without strong leadership by our CEO and the commitment to fiscal responsibility by all EDASC staff.”