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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
September 25, 2001
Report No. 2001-96
IMPORTANT:� The Missouri State Auditor is required by
Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like
Lawrence, 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 Lawrence County was a financial and compliance
audit of various county operating funds.� The following concerns were noted:
�
The county has not established cash management
procedures to ensure the minimum time lapses between its receipt of federal
project monies and the disbursement of such monies to contractors.� Some monies received were held as long as 23
days before the related payment was made to the contractor.
�
The county does not have adequate procedures in place
to track federal awards for the preparation of the schedule of federal awards.� Federal expenditures were understated by
approximately $244,000 in 1999.� For the
schedule to adequately reflect the county�s federal expenditures, it is
necessary that all federal expenditures be properly reported.�
The
audit also includes some matters related to expenditures, budgetary procedures,
published financial statements, personnel policies, officials�
compensation,� property tax system,
County Treasurer�s procedures, employee bond coverage, and the Senior Citizens
Service Board, upon which the county should consider and take appropriate
corrective action.
