Audit Objective 

Determine whether the Town of Wells (Town) Supervisor maintained complete, accurate and timely accounting records and reports to allow the Town Board (Board) to effectively manage the Town’s financial operations.

Key Findings 

The Supervisor did not maintain complete, accurate and timely accounting records, and inadequate financial reports were provided to the Board. As a result, the Board lacked reliable records and reports to manage the Town’s financial operations.

• All nine balance sheet accounts for 2022 and six accounts (67 percent) for 2023 were not accurate. Two accounts were overstated by a combined total of $1.4 million and 13 accounts were understated by a combined total of $451,664.
• Of the 10 revenue accounts we reviewed as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2023, two accounts were overstated by a total of $22,987 and two were understated by a total of $7,642.
• Of the 10 expenditures accounts we reviewed as of December 31, 2022 and December 31, 2023, three accounts were overstated by $21,392 and three were understated by $47,964.
• Bank reconciliations were not always performed. As a result, adjusted bank balances did not agree with general ledger cash balances at month-end for 18 of the 40 (45 percent) bank reconciliations we performed.
• The Supervisor did not provide adequate monthly financial reports to the Board and the Board did not annually audit the Supervisor’s records as required by New York State Town Law (Town Law) Section 123.

Key Recommendations 

The audit report includes five recommendations to help the Board improve accounting records and reports.

Town officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated, or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.