YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2006-58

October 2006

IMPORTANT:  The Missouri State Auditor is required by state law to conduct audits once every 4 years in counties, like Scott, 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.

Actual expenditures exceeded the budgeted amounts in various funds and the minutes showed no documentation of discussion of budget status.  In addition, fuel usage and operating costs are not adequately monitored, and reviews are not documented. 

In the Collector�s office, monthly liability listings are not prepared and reconciled with cash balances.  A comparison of various dates' reconciled bank balance to identified liabilities showed fluctuating unidentified balances. 

In the Circuit Clerk�s office, open items exceeded reconciled cash balances by approximately $5,140 at December 31, 2005, because monies were transferred from the fee account to the jury account to pay jury fees, instead of obtaining reimbursement from the county.  At December 31, 2005 and 2004, the balance in the fee account plus the amount due from the jury account, exceeded the open items by approximately $10,860 more than the old unidentified open items of approximately $17,300 being carried in the fee account.  In addition, deposits were not made on a timely basis, and checks and money orders were not restrictively endorsed immediately upon receipt.

In the Sheriff�s office, receipt slips issued for some monies received are not prenumbered, monies received are not always deposited in a timely manner, and not all disbursements are made by check.  In addition, the Sheriff's Office does not maintain a bank account for the deposit of inmate funds and monies from the DARE Fund were not accounted for properly.  Some seized property items are not always tagged, access to seized property is not adequately restricted, and the disposition of some items is questionable.  Also, adequate mileage logs were not maintained for some vehicles.

The Prosecuting Attorney's Office does not deposit monies in a timely manner and some money orders are not restrictively endorsed immediately upon receipt.  In addition, open items listings are not prepared and reconciled with cash balances, outstanding checks are not properly investigated and receipt slips are not issued for some monies received.

In the Associate Court, some monies are not deposited in a timely manner, checks and money orders are not restrictively endorsed immediately upon receipt, and monies received are not maintained in a secure location.  In addition, the Associate Clerk's Office

has not established procedures to routinely follow-up on outstanding checks, and to ensure accrued costs are adequately identified and pursued.

The county and Health Center do not have adequate procedures in place to track federal awards for the preparation of the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA), and as a result, the county's SEFA contained several errors and omissions.  Expenditures were understated by $58,168 and by $157,865 for the years ended December 31, 2005 and 2004, respectively.

The Health Center Board approved disbursements in excess of budgeted amounts.  In addition, the Health Center does not issue prenumbered receipt slips for some monies received, receipt slips issued do not always indicate the method of payment received, the composition of the receipt slips is not reconciled to deposits, and receipts are not posted to the accounting records on a timely basis or deposited in a timely manner. 

The Senate Bill 40 Board  approved disbursements in excess of budgeted amounts by approximately $265,200 and did not enter into contractual agreements with some entities. 

Another area where concerns were noted related to computer controls.  In addition, the audit included recommendations to the Recorder and the Public Administrator. 

Complete Audit Report