Luallen Releases Audit of See the audit report for Full Details |
Crit Luallen |
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(Frankfort - July 28, 2008)
State Auditor Crit Luallen today released the audit of the 2007 financial statement of the Powell County Sheriff, Danny Rogers. State law requires the Auditor to annually audit the accounts of each county sheriff. In compliance with this law, the Auditor issues two sheriff’s reports each year: one reporting on the audit of the sheriff’s tax account and the other reporting on the audit of the fee account used to operate the office.
The audit found that the Sheriff’s financial statement presents fairly the revenues, expenditures, and excess fees of the Powell County Sheriff in conformity with the regulatory basis of accounting. As part of the audit process, the Auditor must comment on non-compliance with laws, regulations, contracts and grants. The Auditor must also comment on material weaknesses involving the internal control over financial operations and reporting. The audit contains the following comments: The Sheriff should require bids for all purchases over $20,000. The Sheriff leased three Dodge Chargers and one Dodge Nitro for cruisers. The payments are $1,999 for the Chargers for 40 months totaling $79,960 and $398 for the Nitro for 72 months totaling $28,624. KRS 424.260 states when the county makes a contract, lease, or other agreement involving an expenditure of more than $20,000, they must advertise for bids. The audit recommends the Sheriff not enter into lease agreements when more than $20,000 of expenditures is required without advertising for bids. The Powell County Sheriff, Danny Rogers, responded, “Will work on problem.” The Sheriff’s office lacks adequate segregation of duties. The Sheriff’s office staff consists of one deputy clerk, one bookkeeper and one part-time deputy clerk who all collect receipts. The bookkeeper primarily prepares the deposit slips and daily checkouts, deposits money into the bank, prepares bank reconciliations, and posts to the ledgers. Also, the bookkeeper prepares, posts and mails all checks for disbursements. The Sheriff reviews disbursements and signs all disbursement checks. He does not require dual signatures. This creates an internal control deficiency whereas there is more than a likely potential for errors or fraud to occur. Good internal controls dictate the same employee should not handle, record and reconcile receipts. The Sheriff should implement the following steps to strengthen internal controls and document these steps by initialing the appropriate documents:
The Powell County Sheriff, Danny Rogers, responded, “Working on adopting code for office. Understands error.” The Sheriff’s responsibilities include collecting property taxes, providing law enforcement and performing services for the county fiscal court and courts of justice. The Sheriff’s office is funded through statutory commissions and fees collected in conjunction with these duties. |
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