Five Questions: April Lathrom

Q: Tell us about your professional background.

A: The auditor’s office was my first job after I graduated with my accounting degree (from Missouri State University). I started out as an audit staff member and worked my way up to an in-charge, who supervises the field work of the audit. As an in-charge, you get the best of both worlds – you supervise staff, but you’re also out there doing hands-on audit work. It makes the day go faster when you’re actually helping with the work.

Q: How did you go from being a part of auditing the city to working for the city?

A: I was the only (state) staff member who worked on all three audits, and changing jobs wasn’t anything I had even thought of. But then there were some changes in the way our teams were structured, and we were going to be doing a lot more traveling, and I started looking for something. The city started looking for someone in February, and the position was still open when I started looking in June. I was familiar with the city and how it works, and I had a leg up on others because I knew a lot about the city already. It made the transition easy for me.

Q: What’s the most pressing issue the city needs to work on?

A: We’re working on the police and fire pension – that’s the big issue. … The other thing is just working with the city manager’s office and finance (department) and looking at some of the city’s other practices – cash-handling procedures, controls and procedures of the loan department, planning, purchasing cards, etc.

Q: How did the results of Springfield’s audit compare to others you’ve worked on?

A: Honestly, you could look at any other city report and they’d be similar. Lebanon was one of the last audits I worked on before I came here, and we had findings about credit cards, purchasing cards, vehicle usage, accounting controls – you see those in cities across the state. Usually, there are development projects going on that catch some scrutiny. Employee reimbursement is another one – it’s common to see bonuses and other employee incentives on the list.

Q: Tell us about your family and hobbies.

A: My husband, Grant, and I have two kids – a little boy, Caleb, who’s 4, and a daughter, Sydney, who’s about 15 months old. I was pregnant during the first audit, and I get a lot of questions about how my daughter’s doing. Mostly, my life is filled with little kid stuff.

Interview by Jeremy Elwood.