Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to determine if City officials provided sufficient oversight of employee time and attendance and leave accruals for the period January 1, 2013 through April 21, 2014.

Background

The City of Mount Vernon is located in Westchester County and has a population of approximately 68,000. The City, which is governed by a five-member City Council, has approximately 900 employees. Budgeted appropriations for 2014 were approximately $96 million, of which approximately $80 million was attributed to payroll and related benefits.

Key Findings

• The Council has not adopted policies related to payroll.
• The payroll administrator and payroll clerk, with no independent review, created computerized employee records, added and deleted employees from the payroll software, entered payroll data changes and salaries paid and prepared paychecks.
• The City Comptroller has not established standard procedures for all departments concerning the reporting and recording of payroll.

Key Recommendations

• Develop comprehensive written policies outlining City-wide requirements for employee time and attendance records.
• Segregate the payroll duties of authorization, processing and distribution.
• Develop written procedures for each department to follow for recording employees’ time worked and leave time earned and used.