Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to determine whether District controls are adequate to ensure that financial activity is properly recorded and reported and that District moneys are safeguarded for the period January 1, 2012, to July 31, 2013.

Background

The District is a district corporation of the State, distinct and separate from the Town of Coldspring, and located in Cattaraugus County. The Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) consists of five elected members. The District’s general fund budget totaled $49,050 for the 2013 fiscal year.

Key Findings

The Board generally does not provide adequate oversight of District financial activities.

• The Board has not adopted procurement or code of ethics policies in accordance with GML.
• The Board did not perform an annual audit of the Treasurer’s financial records.
• The only accounting records the Treasurer maintained were a check register and savings account register; the Treasurer did not maintain journals, ledgers, subsidiary revenue or expenditure accounts. The Treasurer also did not document monthly bank reconciliations to determine whether any differences existed between bank records and her checking and savings account registers.
• The Board did not adopt an annual budget in accordance with Town Law.

Key Recommendations

• Adopt procurement and code of ethics policies, as required by law.
• Annually audit the Treasurer’s records, as required by Town Law, and document the results of this audit in the minutes.
• Maintain accounting records to help facilitate the preparation of reports, which in turn provide the Board with information necessary to appropriately monitor the District’s finances.
• Annually develop, present, and adopt a formal budget, as required by Town Law.