Audit Objective
Determine whether the Cuddebackville Fire District (District) Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) provided adequate oversight of the District’s financial operations and properly audited claims.
Key Findings
The Board did not provide adequate oversight of the District’s financial operations or properly audit claims. As a result, the Board hindered their ability to make informed financial decisions. Complete, accurate and reliable accounting records were not maintained. For example, the December 31, 2022 ending bank statement balances differed from the ending cash balances in the accounting records by $638,485.The Board also used unrealistic budgetary estimates that resulted in annual operating deficits and a declining fund balance. The Board did not:
- Ensure the Treasurer maintained complete and accurate accounting records.
- Request or receive regular financial reports.
- Ensure claims were properly audited prior to payment.
- Conduct required annual audits for 2020 through 2023.Although the Board paid a CPA $6,750 to conduct the 2019 and 2020 audits, the CPA did not complete the 2020 audit and has possession of the District’s financial records.The Board was unaware the audit was not completed and took no action, until our audit, to follow up with the CPA.
- Ensure the required Annual Financial Reports (AFRs) for 2020 through 2023 were filed.
Key Recommendations
The audit report contains 13 recommendations to help the Board and District officials improve oversight of the District’s financial operations.
District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.