Audit Objective
Determine whether the Town of Bergen (Town) Supervisor maintained complete and accurate accounting records, provided accurate and timely financial information to the Town Board (Board), and filed the annual financial report (AFR) in a timely manner.
Key Findings
The Supervisor generally maintained complete and accurate accounting records but needs to provide more oversight over the individuals carrying out his recordkeeping duties. Furthermore, the Supervisor did not annually submit sufficient accounting records to the Board for audit and while he filed the AFR in a timely manner, it was not accurate. The Supervisor:
- Approved bank reconciliations without determining whether they were performed correctly and without verifying that cash balances in the accounting records were accurate.
- Overstated cash by $747,000 in the 2022 AFR.
- Did not perform a periodic review of all journal entries and financial transactions as required by the Town’s policy. Therefore, the Accountant recorded financial transactions without oversight.
- Did not obtain timely reimbursement of $130,000 in payroll expenditures from the Byron-Bergen Library (Library).
Key Recommendations
- Annually provide sufficient accounting records to the Board for audit.
- Compare accounting records with monthly bank reconciliations.
- Obtain timely reimbursement for Library payroll expenditures.
Town officials disagreed with certain aspects of our findings; however, they generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they have taken corrective action. Appendix B includes our comments on issues raised in the Town’s response.