YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

July 5, 2001

Report No. 2001-52

IMPORTANT:  The Missouri State Auditor is required by Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like Grundy, 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 Grundy County was a financial and compliance audit of various county operating funds.  The following concerns were noted: 

• The county operates an ambulance service for which client billings are prepared and submitted to various health care insurers for collection.  Follow-up procedures were not performed on a significant number of accounts that were not collected.   The county currently contracts with an outside vendor to provide billing services.  The contract does not provide specific details on follow-up billing procedures.  In addition, standard procedures are not in place for performing write-offs of uncollectible accounts.  

• The Families and Friends of the Developmentally Disabled Board maintained approximately $20,600 in a money market fund which is not FDIC insured nor protected from market loss.  In addition, approximately $25,000 was maintained in certificates of deposit held at banks in other states which is in violation of state law.

• Some program expenditures were omitted from the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards and expenditures for the BRO program were overstated by approximately $78,000 during the audit period. 

The audit also includes some matters related to budgeting, the health center, and the county’s financial condition, upon which the county should consider and take appropriate corrective action.

Complete Audit Report