Purpose of Audit

The purpose of our audit was to assess the completeness and accuracy of the Town’s records and reports for the period January 1, 2015 through October 13, 2016.

Background

The Town of Edmeston is located in Otsego County and has a population of approximately 1,800. The Town is governed by an elected five-member Town Board. Budgeted appropriations for 2017 total approximately $1.1 million.

Key Findings

• The Supervisor maintained two accounting systems for the Town's funds that were not set up to properly account for transactions by individual funds.
• The Supervisor did not prepare accurate, periodic financial reports for the Board.
• The Board has not conducted an annual audit of the Supervisor’s records for several years.

Key Recommendations

• Discontinue using two accounting programs to process the Town's financial transactions by combining the functions into one program.
• Provide monthly financial reports to the Board that include balance sheet account balances, detailed year-to-date budget-to-actual comparisons of revenues and expenditures for each fund, monthly bank reconciliations and bank statements.
• Conduct an annual audit of the Supervisor's records or engage an independent auditor to conduct the audit.