City's Financial Audit Finally Completed
The City's annual financial audit for fiscal year 2005 was presented by Carlson & Cottrell, CPA's to the Grove City Council at this week's meeting, with a letter dated Dec. 22, 2005 which called for more internal control over financial reporting, pointed out competitive bidding requirements for projects of more than $25,000, and recommendations on trustee bank accounts. Otherwise, the city is in good financial shape, underspending its budget by $900,000 while taking in $373,000 more than anticipated.
The report, presented by Ron Cottrell, was late, he said, because he had moved his office to Grove and "got behind." This caused a delay in reporting to the state auditor which caused about $1500 in gasoline taxes to be held up in payment to the city.
Regarding the internal control matter, he recommended that the city implement procedures to ensure that capital assets are properly recorded in the detail subsidiary records and general ledger control accounts, in a timely manner, and that periodic reconciliations of the detail be performed to ensure that all assets are properly recorded.
The city has acquired new software with a fixed asset module which should correct the problem, he noted.
His report also noted that GMSA paid two different vendors more than $12,500 each on the White Building sewer/gas project with one being in excess of $25,000, with no documented approval by the board of trustees for such expenditures, and formal bids "were not solicited for the project." The report recommended that solicitation of competitive bids be carried out for the benefit of the city or public trust. In March, this project was the basis for a bid-splitting conviction, a misdeameanor, for the city manager. He is appealing the jury decision.
The report noted that city management has amended the city's purchasing policies and procedures to bring them in line with state statutes and will be "more diligent in our purchasing practices to help ensure that we comply."
The Dec. 22, 2005 letter to the city manager also noted several management observations and recommendations, not significant enough to put in the Audit Report. These included ownership and title to land at the airport, which has since been resolved; trust bank account activity should be recorded on a monthly basis as the trustee statements are received; principal payments on long-term debt should be recorded as the payments are made to reduce the debt balances in the general ledger; and better procedures and controls over Municipal Court citations should be instituted.
Carlson made it clear to the council that his firm had found no embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, or fraud in the three years his firm had audited the city.
"The city has made tremendous improvement in its financial reporting the past three years," he said.
The report, presented by Ron Cottrell, was late, he said, because he had moved his office to Grove and "got behind." This caused a delay in reporting to the state auditor which caused about $1500 in gasoline taxes to be held up in payment to the city.
Regarding the internal control matter, he recommended that the city implement procedures to ensure that capital assets are properly recorded in the detail subsidiary records and general ledger control accounts, in a timely manner, and that periodic reconciliations of the detail be performed to ensure that all assets are properly recorded.
The city has acquired new software with a fixed asset module which should correct the problem, he noted.
His report also noted that GMSA paid two different vendors more than $12,500 each on the White Building sewer/gas project with one being in excess of $25,000, with no documented approval by the board of trustees for such expenditures, and formal bids "were not solicited for the project." The report recommended that solicitation of competitive bids be carried out for the benefit of the city or public trust. In March, this project was the basis for a bid-splitting conviction, a misdeameanor, for the city manager. He is appealing the jury decision.
The report noted that city management has amended the city's purchasing policies and procedures to bring them in line with state statutes and will be "more diligent in our purchasing practices to help ensure that we comply."
The Dec. 22, 2005 letter to the city manager also noted several management observations and recommendations, not significant enough to put in the Audit Report. These included ownership and title to land at the airport, which has since been resolved; trust bank account activity should be recorded on a monthly basis as the trustee statements are received; principal payments on long-term debt should be recorded as the payments are made to reduce the debt balances in the general ledger; and better procedures and controls over Municipal Court citations should be instituted.
Carlson made it clear to the council that his firm had found no embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, or fraud in the three years his firm had audited the city.
"The city has made tremendous improvement in its financial reporting the past three years," he said.
posted by Editor | 1:35 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home