PARIS — An audit of the town’s 2012-13 budget has been suspended, the town manager said this week, due to auditors’ concerns about the accuracy of cash reconciliations.

At the recommendation of Town Manager Amy Bernard, the board voted to enter a contract with Janet Smith, a bookkeeper recommended to the town by the auditor. Smith is the town bookkeeper for Durham and another town, Bernard said, and is willing to work as a consultant to straighten out the town’s finances.

Bernard said Smith’s services will cost the town a flat fee of $7,500.

According to Bernard, the town doesn’t know how much money it has because of record keeping in the past year and a half. She said that in recent months, the town has had some checks not clear. She said the town’s cash reconciliations, a verification of the town’s cash on hand, were far behind.

“When I first came, I found that they had not been done since June 30 of 2011,” Bernard said. She said she asked that reconciliations become a priority. Since then, auditors have identified errors.

Bernard said Smith’s services will ensure the audit can be completed before the town meeting in June so the town knows exactly how much money it has in its accounts before setting a new budget. She said that as part of the deal, Smith will also train town staff to make sure cash reconciliations are done correctly in the future.

The 2012-13 fiscal year audit was supposed to be done at the end of last year. Vice  Chairman Robert Kirchherr said that until last December, the board was assured the audit was on schedule.

“When Amy came in, she found out it wasn’t,” Kirchherr said. “So you can draw whatever conclusion you want from that.”

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