YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2005-60

August 2005

IMPORTANT:  The Missouri State Auditor is required by state law to conduct audits once every 4 years in counties, like Daviess, that do not have a county auditor.  In addition to a financial and compliance 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.

This audit of Daviess County included additional areas of county operations, as well as the elected county officials.  The following concerns were noted as part of the audit:

• The county continues to significantly overestimate the amounts budgeted for expenditures of the Special Road and Bridge Fund.  During the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2003, budgeted expenditures exceeded actual expenditures by $1,141,722 and $858,550, respectively.  Such budgeting procedures do not allow for proper monitoring and use of the budget as a management tool and has also allowed the county to over transfer monies to the General Revenue Fund.  While the county changed its transfer policy in 2002, of the $51,300 over transfer, $4,900 related to the past three years.

• The county apparently has not monitored the level of bank activity, resulting in insufficient collateral securities being pledged to cover the county's deposits on December 31, 2004 and 2003, respectively.

• As similarly noted in prior audit reports, minutes were not maintained for closed meetings of the county commission, which is now required by law.  

• Health Center procedures related to capital assets, acknowledgement of receipt of goods and services, and the petty cash fund are in need of improvement.  In addition, timesheets are not signed by employees and the approval of employees' timesheets is not documented.

• The Developmentally Disabled Board could not locate minutes for five board meetings and did not adequately maintain documentation for bid selections or to support all expenditures.

• The Central Dispatch for Emergency Services (CDES) Board's closed meeting minutes lacked sufficient detail of matters discussed and actions taken.  Additionally, employee timesheets are not approved and signed by a supervisor, the 911 supervisor is not completing a timesheet, capital asset records are not maintained and property tags are not affixed to all assets.

Also included in the audit were recommendations related to townships' published financial statements, the county's capital assets, and Sheriff's controls and procedures.

Complete Audit Report