TITLE 7 BANKING AND FINANCE

Section 1. Financial Institutions, 7-1-1 through 7-1-1021.

ARTICLE 3 CREDIT UNIONS

7-1-657. Duties of supervisory committee; inspections; comprehensive annual audits; use of independent accountants.

1. The supervisory committee shall be responsible for securing a comprehensive audit of the credit union at least once each year unless such time period is modified pursuant to the rules and regulations of the department. Except as provided for in subsection (c) of this Code section, the committee shall employ the services of a licensed, independent certified public accountant or firm of such accountants to make such comprehensive audit. The results of the audit shall be submitted to the board, and the committee shall present a summary of the results of the audit to the membership. The committee shall make recommendations to the board for the correction of any deficiencies disclosed by the audit. The annual audit shall include a confirmation of the share, deposit, and loan accounts of the members and such other procedures as the department might require. The annual audit shall be preserved with the records of the credit union, and a copy of such audit shall be filed with the department upon request by the department.
2. The supervisory committee, from time to time, may conduct or cause to be conducted other audit functions or reviews of operations or may make or cause to be made an inspection of the assets and the liabilities of the credit union. The committee shall report the results of any such reviews to the board of directors and shall be responsible for making specific recommendations to the board regarding any unsafe, unsound, or unauthorized activities discovered.
3. Based upon the total assets of a credit union, the complexity of a credit union, or other factors, the department may enact rules and regulations authorizing certain credit unions to obtain the required comprehensive audit from an individual or entity that is not a licensed, independent certified public accountant or firm of such accountants so long as the individual or entity is independent or otherwise qualified.

(Ga. L. 1925, p. 165, § 15; Code 1933, § 25-114; Code 1933, § 41A-3108, enacted by Ga. L. 1974, p. 705, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, p. 1244, § 9; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1220, § 7; Ga. L. 2015, p. 344, § 23/HB 184; Ga. L. 2017, p. 193, § 19/HB 143.)

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, in subsection (a), substituted the present second sentence for the former second sentence, which read: "The committee may employ the services of an independent accountant or firm of such accountants or the internal auditors of any sponsoring group, concern, or association of credit unions to make such comprehensive audit.", inserted a comma in the third sentence, and, in the last sentence, inserted a comma and inserted "of such audit"; and added subsection (c).

The 2017 amendment, effective June 1, 2017, in subsection (a), added "unless such time period is modified pursuant to the rules and regulations of the department" immediately preceding the period at the end of the first sentence, inserted "certified" in the middle of the second sentence, and added "upon request by the department" immediately preceding the period at the end of the last sentence; and substituted the present provisions of subsection (c) for the former provisions, which read: "If a credit union has assets of less than $15 million, the supervisory committee may employ the services of any independent accountant or firm of such accountants or the internal auditors of any sponsoring group, concern, or association of credit unions approved by the department to conduct the audit mandated by subsection (a) of this Code section.".