NATCHEZ — More than a month after the federal deadline, the City of Natchez has not completed its audit.

The city’s audit for the 2011-2012 fiscal year was due June 30, per federal law.

The city has been unable to complete its audit, City Clerk Donnie Holloway said, because all of the city’s financial information needed for the audit was not readily available.

Holloway said auditors from The Gillon Group, the firm the city hired to conduct the audit, needed information from one employee that was out on leave because of a family illness and another who died in February.

“They had questions the other (employees) didn’t know,” Holloway said.

The city’s conversion to a new accounting software also caused problems in obtaining information for the audit, Holloway said.

“When we converted over to Springbrook, it messed a lot of stuff up,” he said.

Holloway said the city contacted the Mississippi Department of Transportation when it realized the audit would not be completed on time.

MDOT requires the city submit an audit because of the federal and state transportation funds the city receives.

“They told us to get it to them as soon as possible,” he said.

MDOT recently pulled Adams County’s funding because it did not submit an audit on time, but Holloway said the city’s funding is not in jeopardy.

Holloway said the audit should be completed soon, but did not know the exact date.

Mayor Butch Brown said he was disappointed to hear the audit has not been completed.

“I am extremely disappointed because I fully anticipated having the audit ready for distribution next Tuesday (at the Natchez Board of Aldermen meeting),” he said. “I have many times in the last three to five weeks asked if we were on track, and I’ve been assured everything was ready and wrapping up.”

Brown said he knew the audit was going to take longer than it did last year because he asked for a “more thorough” audit of last year’s finances.

“I said, ‘When you present the audit, I want all findings, good, bad or indifferent, and corrective actions to follow the findings,’” he said.

Brown said he does not believe it is any secret that the city’s books have not been in the best shape. For that reason, Brown said he asked the auditors to include measures the city could take to correct problems discovered in the audit.

“It is going to be a telltale audit,” he said. “It’s going to be the most thorough audit you have seen in the last four years.”