YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

January 16, 2004

Report No. 2004-04

The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Department of Mental Health, Metropolitan St. Louis Psychiatric Center.

Client monies are deposited by Metropolitan St. Louis Psychiatric Center (MPC) personnel into a local holding account and wire transferred to a fiduciary checking account in Jefferson City.  All transactions and balances are maintained on the Non-Appropriated Funds System (NAFS).  We noted the following concerns regarding the NAFS:

• Proper follow-up is not performed on adjustments made on the bank reconciliations.
  
   
• NAFS personnel do not perform monthly reconciliations of the Mental Health Trust Fund (MHTF) balances.  As of June 30, 2003 and 2002, the difference between MPC's records and the department's records for the MHTF totaled approximately $46,800 and $44,600, respectively.  The MPC balance has not been reconciled to the Department of Mental Health (DMH) balance since 1999.
  
   
• Some client account balances within the NAFS had negative balances. 

The MPC Revolving Fund account, established at $4,000 and includes a $400 change fund, is used for incidental operating expenses, client activities, and the payment of costs to return nonresident clients to their state of residence. We noted:

• During the month of December 2002, the Revolving Fund custodian distributed approximately $615 in checks made payable to "cash".  To reduce the risk of misuse of funds, the practice of writing checks made payable to cash should be prohibited.

• The Revolving Fund is not being reimbursed to its established amount on June 30 as required by DMH policy.  As of June 30, 2003, the MPC had approximately thirty outstanding reimbursements greater than one year old, some dating back to 1996. 

The audit report also notes some other concerns related to gift shop procedures, timekeeping procedures, and state-owned vehicles. 

Complete Audit Report