Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to evaluate the internal controls over the Library’s disbursements for the period November 1, 2011, to April 30, 2013.

Background

The Ethelbert B. Crawford Public Library District is located within the Monticello School District, in Sullivan County. The Library is governed by a seven-member Board of Trustees. The Library disbursed a total of $788,584 for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2012.

Key Findings

The Board did not ensure that disbursements were made in an economic manner and for authorized Library purposes.

• The Board did not audit any of the 767 non-payroll disbursements totaling $1,157,071 made during our audit period. The Board also did not approve 100 of these disbursements totaling $96,586, three of which were to Library employees. While the majority of these 100 disbursements had adequate support, 13 did not have adequate documentation to determine if they were for legitimate Library purposes. We selected an additional nine Board-approved non-payroll check payments totaling $2,379 made to Library employees and found that three of these payments lacked either adequate documentation to show they were legitimate Library expenditures or were paid for a higher amount than what was actually owed.
• Two vendors had initiated a combined total of 137 electronic fund transfers totaling $494,817 out of the Library’s general checking account during our audit period, which is not permitted by Law.
• Four disbursements totaling $89,000 were for a public works contract that was not competitively bid as required by the Law.

Key Recommendations

• Conduct a thorough and deliberate audit of all claims prior to approving them for payment to ensure that all claims have sufficient supporting documentation.
• Ensure that that no vendor has the capability to perform or initiate electronic transfers of funds out of the Library’s general checking account.
• Ensure that public works contracts are competitively bid when required by the Law.