Audit Objective
Determine whether the Town Supervisor (Supervisor) maintained complete, accurate and up-to-date accounting records and reports.
Key Findings
The Supervisor did not ensure that the Town’s accounting records and reports were complete, accurate, up to date, reliable or timely. As a result, the Board’s ability to monitor the Town’s financial affairs, accurately assess the Town’s financial condition and make sound financial decisions was compromised.
- The former and current Supervisors did not provide oversight of the bookkeepers and bank reconciliations were not performed. As a result, the current Supervisor and bookkeeper were unaware that two bank accounts existed and had $710,000 on deposit.
- The Town Board (Board) has not received financial reports since January 2020 and the 15 submitted reports for 2018 and 2019 were inaccurate and untimely.
- Although an annual update document (AUD) is required to be filed each year, AUDs have not been filed with the New York State Office of the State Comptroller since 2013.
Key Recommendations
- Maintain accurate, complete and up-to-date accounting records and properly complete bank reconciliations.
- Provide accurate and timely financial reports to the Board and file AUDs timely.
Except as specified in Appendix A, Town officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they would take corrective action. Appendix B includes our comment on an issue raised in the Town’s response.