Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to determine if the Supervisor properly accounted for and reported the Town’s financial transactions for the period January 1, 2010 through August 31, 2013.

Background

The Town of Marcellus is located in Onondaga County and has a population of 6,200. The Town Board comprises a Supervisor and four council members. The Town’s budgeted expenditures for 2013 were approximately $3.7 million.

Key Findings

• The Supervisor did not maintain complete and accurate accounting records and reports for all Town funds or ensure that bank reconciliations were properly performed.
• The Town did not maintain separate accounting records for each special district.
• The bookkeeper could not provide the Board with fund balance amounts and the reconciled cash balances for each fund or special district.
• The Town did not file the required annual financial report for 2010, 2011 or 2012 in a timely manner.
• The Board did not perform, or provide for, annual audits of the Supervisor’s records.

Key Recommendations

• Ensure that all financial activity is accounted for completely and accurately and that monthly bank reconciliations are performed. The Ensure that any discrepancies disclosed are promptly investigated and corrected.
• Separately account for the financial activity and fund balance for each individual special district.
• Provide monthly financial reports to the Board that include fund balance amounts and reconciled cash balances, in addition to budget-to-actual comparisons for each fund and special district.
• File the Town’s annual financial report in a timely manner.
• Conduct an annual audit of the Supervisor’s records or engage an independent auditor to conduct the audit.