YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

March 12, 2004

Report No. 2004-23

IMPORTANT:  The Missouri State Auditor is required by Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like Warren, which do not have a county auditor.  However, to assist such counties in meeting federal audit requirements, the State Auditor will also provide 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 it 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 Warren County included additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials.  The following concerns were noted as part of the audit:

• Some federal grants received on behalf of the county were not maintained in a bank account controlled by the County Treasurer.  In addition, a budget was not prepared for these funds and they were not included in the county's published financial statement.

• The approved budget documents for the General Revenue Fund, Capital Improvement Fund and the Road and Bridge Capital Fund did not adequately project the anticipated financial position for the years ended December 31, 2002 and 2001.  The significant differences noted resulted mainly from overestimating disbursements, which decreases the effectiveness of the budget as a management tool.

• The Associate Circuit Division's accounting controls and procedures need improvement.  Receipts are not posted or deposited on a timely basis and accounting duties are not adequately segregated.

• The county does not have written agreements with political subdivisions on housing prisoners.  The Sheriff's department does not receipt monies in a timely manner, restrictively endorse checks and money orders immediately upon receipt, perform monthly bank reconciliations, or reconcile the monthly listing of prisoner account balances (open items) to the book balance.

• Collateral securities were not pledged by the Senate Bill 40 (SB40) Board's depositary bank for deposits in excess of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) coverage.  Additionally, the regular SB40 board minutes did not document the specific reasons for closing meetings and the matters discussed in closed session did not appear to be in compliance with state law.  Finally, the Senate Bill 40 Board budgets did not accurately reflect the board's financial position.

The audit also suggested improvements to procedures for county general fixed asset records and included recommendations to the Circuit Clerk on accrued court costs.

Complete Audit Report