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Audit Objective

Determine if claims were adequately documented, for appropriate purposes and properly audited and approved prior to payment.

Key Findings

The Board, District officials and the claims auditor could improve the audit of claims. We found:

• Of the 50 claims totaling $528,778 we reviewed multiple claims, such as lack of itemized receipts or invoices and no evidence of bids or quotes.
• The claims auditor did not have well-defined duties and did not report claims audit results directly to the Board.

Key Recommendations

The Board and District officials should:

• Develop procedures to define the claims auditor’s duties and provide guidance on the claims auditor’s responsibilities.

The claims auditor should:

• Ensure that all claims contain sufficient supporting documentation before approving them for payment.
• Conduct a thorough and deliberate audit of each claim before authorizing payment to ensure it is accurate, for valid purposes and in compliance with required statutes and policies.

District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.