YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2000-34
May 12, 2000

The following findings were noted as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the General Assembly - Senate.

The Senate does not have written job descriptions for many support staff employment positions and does not periodically evaluate many support staff employees. The Senate support staff personnel policy does not address how leave should be requested, approved, and documented, and these employees are not required to prepare time sheets. There is no personnel policy for senators' personal staff and there are not centralized leave records for these employees.

There is no segregation of duties over the payroll function, with the Senate payroll clerk handling all payroll duties. In addition, personnel files are not complete and various problems were noted pertaining to accumulated leave and the related records.

The Senate has not established a written procurement policy. Also, during the three years ended June 30, 1999, the Senate authorized the purchase and delivery of over $150,000 in postage stamps to the various senators to be used for official business. No controls have been implemented to ensure the postage stamps are used properly or that any unused stamps are returned. In addition, the Senate printed calendars for distribution by most of the senators at a cost totaling $21,750 for the three years ended June 30, 1999.

During the audit period, the Senate sold used office furniture and equipment to senators, their staff, or outside parties. The Senate has not established a policy on how to value these items for sale. It was recommended that the Senate consider turning all used assets being disposed of over to State Surplus Property.

Most of the findings reported had also been reported in the previous audit of the Senate (covering the three years ended June 30, 1993) with the exception of the following:

Our previous audit noted the Senate did not reconcile its manual postage meter usage log to the computer log attached to the postage meter, and the balance of postage on the postage meter on account at the post office appeared to be excessive based on the amount of postage used annually.

We recommended the manual log be reconciled to the computer log to ensure the postage meter usage was properly recorded to each senator's allowance. Furthermore, we recommended that the postage balances be monitored in all postage accounts. The Senate did implement these recommendations.

Also noted in the previous audit report, we found documentation of prior approval was not found for all out-of-state trips. Administration Committee policy in the Senate required prior approval for all out-of-state travel. It was recommended that the Senate document prior approval of out-of-state travel in the committee's minutes. This recommendation has also been implemented.

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