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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
August 25, 1999
Report No. 99-58
IMPORTANT: The Missouri State Auditor is required by Missouri law to conduct audits only once every four years in counties, like Pulaski, 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 Pulaski County included additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials. The following concerns were noted as part of the audit:
Although many internal control problems in the County Collector's office were noted in the prior audit, little attempt was apparently made to implement prior recommendations. This audit again noted weaknesses such as not properly reconciling daily paid tax receipts to deposits and computer reports. Bank reconciliations when attempted were not properly prepared and reconciliations had not been attempted since June 1998. There was $26,000 of unidentified monies in the bank at February 28, 1999. The County Collector had not filed annual settlements for the years ended February 28, 1998 and 1999.
The county was withholding a 10% collection fee from tourism tax collections. The audit questioned the statutory authority to withhold this fee and recommended the County Commission review this situation with its Prosecuting Attorney to ensure monies collected for tourism were being properly handled.
Also included in the audit are recommendations to improve budgetary procedures and to better monitor collateral securities pledged by the county banks. The audit also suggested improvements be made by the Circuit Clerk and the Prosecuting Attorney in preparing timely bank reconciliations and reconciling liability listings to cash balances.
