YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

February 6, 2002

Report No. 2002-11

The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Office of Administration, Division of Purchasing and Materials Management, State Agency For Surplus Property.

The State Agency for Surplus Property (SASP) handles state and federal surplus property. State Agencies dispose of property to the SASP who distributes the surplus property to eligible donees (purchasers of property) for a nominal service charge or sells the property to the general public by auction or sealed bid.   Since most of the state surplus items are of low value, the SASP could significantly reduce the time currently used to report and track surplus property if the SASP would use the current $1,000 threshold specified by the State Auditor in the Code of State Regulations.   

The SASP does not maintain perpetual inventory records to account for state surplus property received and disposed of.  Adequate inventory records are necessary to properly account for surplus property items. 

The SASP has not established standard policies and procedures regarding the handling and collection of past-due accounts.  As of June 30, 2001, past-due accounts totaled more than $23,000.  Failure to maintain and follow standard procedures increases the likelihood that past-due amounts will not be collected. 

Some donees have a credit balance as a result of property returns, overpayments, or duplicate payments.  The SASP should mail credit balance statements to donees periodically and return the funds to the donee if necessary. 

The SASP maintains a 300 gallon diesel fuel tank and a 300 gallon gasoline fuel tank.  All employees have access to the tanks.  Logs are not maintained to record fuel usage or to identify the vehicles and machinery filled with fuel.  Without fuel usage logs, a reconciliation cannot be performed between fuel purchased, fuel used, and fuel on hand.

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