[read complete report - pdf]

Audit Objective

Determine whether City officials effectively managed the City’s cash collection function.

Key Findings

• The Clerk’s office forfeited 30 percent of its revenues ($17,241) collected from credit card payments due to the credit card vendor improperly withholding funds.
• Ice rink collections totaling $5,364 were unaccounted for due to inadequate segregation of duties.
• Cash was not deposited for as many as 93 days after being collected.

Key Recommendations

• The City Clerk should work with the credit card vendor and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to recover funds withheld.
• Provide oversight and segregate incompatible financial duties to ensure all transactions are legitimate and accurate.
• Establish and adopt citywide policies and procedures for collecting, depositing and recording cash receipts.

City officials disagreed with certain aspects of our findings and recommendations, but indicated they planned to implement some of our recommendations. Appendix C includes our comments on issues raised in the City’s response letter.