YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2000-79
August 23, 2000

IMPORTANT:  The Missouri State Auditor is required by Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like Macon, which do not have a county auditor.  However, to assist such counties in meeting federal audit requirements, the State Auditor will also perform a financial and compliance audit of various county operating funds every two years.  This voluntary service to Missouri counties can only be provided when state auditing resources are available and does not interfere with the State Auditor’s constitutional responsibility of auditing state government.

Once every four years, the State Auditor’s statutory audit will cover additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials,  as required by Missouri’s Constitution.  

This audit of Macon County included additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials.  The following concerns were noted as part of the audit: 

• The majority of Senate Bill 40 Board Fund expenditures are to not-for-profit corporations to provide various services to the handicapped.  One not-for-profit corporation was assigned the administrative responsibility of monitoring other purchase of service providers; however, there was little indication that information provided by the other not-for-profit corporations was reviewed by this not-for-profit corporation or relayed to the Senate Bill 40 Board.  In addition, the Senate Bill 40 Board is not monitoring the administrative or client services contract requirements of this not-for-profit corporation. 

• The Senate Bill 40 Board may be incurring unnecessary expenses to a not-for-profit corporation.  The 1999 administrative services contract provided for a monthly payment of $833 ($10,000 annually) to the not-for-profit corporation.  However, the Senate Bill 40 Board paid additional office expenditures totaling approximately $6,880.  The office is used on a full-time basis by the administrative services not-for-profit corporation.  

• Bid documentation was not always retained for various equipment purchases made by the county during the audit period.  The County Commission indicated they solicit bids for equipment, but do not always maintain the bid documentation.  Examples of items purchased, for which bid documentation could not be found included playground surfacing costing $4,999, a trailer costing $22,584, and two used dump trucks costing $20,000 and $27,000, respectively.  

• The county prepared a schedule of expenditures of federal awards (SEFA) for the years ended December 31, 1999 and 1998; however, the information presented for some of the programs did not agree with the county’s expenditure records.  Without an accurate schedule, federal financial activity may not be audited and reported in accordance with federal audit requirements which could result in future reductions of federal funds.

Also included in the audit are recommendations to the Circuit Clerk to investigate the status of cases for which monies are being held and distribute those monies for those accounts for which the balance due appears unlikely to be collected in the future.  The audit also questioned some expenses of the Law Library Fund and the handling of reimbursements to the Circuit Clerk Interest Fund. 

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