YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2006-68

November 2006

IMPORTANT:  The Missouri State Auditor is required by state law to conduct audits once every 4 years in counties, like Washington, that do not have a county auditor.  In addition to a financial audit of various county operating funds, the State Auditor's statutory audit covers additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials, as required by Missouri's Constitution.

• The County Clerk does not maintain an account book for several of the funds held by the County Treasurer.  As a result, the County Clerk and County Treasurer are unable to reconcile the receipts, disbursements, and cash balances for these funds. The county also does not have procedures in place to ensure its budget documents accurately present financial activities of the county.  In addition, actual disbursements exceeded budgeted amounts for several funds.

• The county did not solicit bids or perform other price comparison procedures for some major purchases.  In addition, the county did not enter into contracts for some services when appropriate and its accounts payable process does not provide adequate controls to prevent duplicate payments. 

• The County Commission has not requested bids or funding proposals for economic development services and its agreement for economic development services is not adequately detailed. 

• The County Clerk’s procedures to account for county property are not sufficient and county property records are not complete.  Records and monitoring procedures for county vehicles used by various officials also need improvement.  In addition, records of fuel usage for road and bridge vehicles and equipment are not adequately reviewed. 

• The County Commission minutes do not always include sufficient detail of matters discussed or actions taken.  In addition, meeting notices and agendas were either not posted or not maintained for some meetings held by the County Commission. 

• The County Commission or Revolving Loan Board has not taken action regarding a $19,000 outstanding loan.  The loan was renegotiated in 2002.  However, a new loan agreement was not obtained.  In addition, the County Treasurer did not maintain amortization schedules for some of the loans outstanding.

• The Senior Citizen's Service Board does not develop formal agreements with the not-for-profit (NFP) organizations and has not developed an effective method of monitoring the services provided by several of the NFP service providers. 

• The Health Department's controls and procedures for board meeting minutes need improvement.  The Health Department also does not have procedures in place to ensure its budget documents accurately present its financial activities.  In addition, controls and procedures over expenditures, payroll, and property need improvement. 

• The Handicapped Board (Senate Bill 40 Board) has not developed an effective method of monitoring the services provided by several of the NFP service providers, and has not entered into a written agreement with its depository bank.  In addition, the Handicapped Board's procedures to account for Handicapped Board property are not sufficient and the property records are not complete. 

• The Sheriff's procedures for processing receipts and disbursements and segregating accounting duties for the commissary account are in need of improvement.  In addition, monthly bank reconciliations and open items listings are not prepared.  As a result of the various problems with the Sheriff's commissary, the Sheriff's Department is unable to account for all monies received or determine the amount of monies that should be in the Sheriff's commissary account. 

Also, Sheriff’s Department procedures related to bond receipts, segregation of accounting duties for the general account, commissary profits, and seized property are in need of improvement. 

• In the Circuit Clerk’s office, the numerical sequence of manual receipt slips is not accounted for and there is no reconciliation between monies recorded on manual receipt slips and amounts deposited.  In addition, procedures for monitoring accrued costs and open items need to be improved.

• In the Associate Court, cash custody and accounting duties have not been adequately segregated, the numerical sequence of manual receipt slips is not accounted for and there is no reconciliation between monies recorded on manual receipt slips and amounts deposited.  In addition, controls and procedures related to receipts, accrued costs, and bank reconciliations need improvements. 

• In the Prosecuting Attorney’s office, cash custody and accounting duties have not been adequately segregated, and controls and procedures for processing receipts need improvement.

The audit also included recommendations related to the schedule of expenditures of federal awards and the property tax system.

Complete Audit Report