The City of Alexandria’s fiscal house is in order, according to a spokesman from an independent public accounting firm who spoke in front of city council November 9.

Jack Reagan of KPMG bestowed a “clean opinion” on the city’s books after auditing City Hall. The audit resulted in what Reagan called a “gold standard” because of City Hall’s deliberate approach to budgetary savings and expenditures.

“It’s about as plain vanilla as you’re going to get, and a plain vanilla audit is very good,” Reagan said.

Reagan said Alexandria’s accounting department was likely the strongest of any of his clients, which include the governments of Washington, D.C., and Arlington and Loudon counties.

Alexandria finished the previous fiscal year with an $18-million surplus.