Purpose

To determine the extent of implementation of the eight recommendations included in our initial report, Controls and Accountability of Court, Trust and Bail Funds (2013-N-1).

Background

Our initial audit issued on April 16, 2014, determined that NYC Department of Finance’s (Finance) Court Assets Department could not accurately account for Court, Trust and Bail funds.  We found discrepancies between the total account balances as shown on the Court Assets Tracking System and the balances held by the bank and investment firm. Finance stated the difference was due to Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) fees collected from bail cases. However, even after accounting for the ATI fees, there was a shortage of $882,850 on deposit. Finance could not account for the shortage. Finance also could not demonstrate that it applied the full, correct amount of interest to the Court and Trust accounts

Key Finding

• Finance officials have made progress in correcting each of the problems we identified.  Of the eight recommendations prior recommendations six were implemented and two were partially implemented.

Key Recommendation

• Officials are given 30 days after the issuance of the follow-up review to provide information on any actions that are planned to address the unresolved issues discussed in this review.