Report No. 2007-37
August 2007

IMPORTANT: The Missouri State Auditor is required by state law to conduct audits once every four years in counties, such as Nodaway, 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 the Missouri Constitution.

Budgets were not prepared for the Associate Interest Fund and Probate Interest Fund. Additionally, the county's annual published financial statements did not comply with statutory requirements. While a vendor payment listing is published, actual financial information for the previous year is not published. Rather, the county has been publishing a summary of the approved budgets for the current year. Neither the Health Center nor SB 40 Board publishes financial statements separately.

While the county bid numerous items during our audit period, bids were not solicited or bid documentation was not retained for some expenditures. The County Commission indicated at least one item not bid was due to only being available from one vendor; however, documentation to support this claim was not maintained. In addition, acknowledgement of receipt of goods or services is not required prior to paying invoices.

Usage logs are not maintained from some county vehicles and fuel purchases are not tracked and reviewed for reasonableness. The Sheriff's Department operates 10 vehicles and the Road and Bridge Department operates 7 vehicles and various pieces of equipment and annual fuel costs totaled approximately $66,000 and $56,000 during 2006 and 2005, respectively.

Leave records are not updated timely and do not always agree with records maintained by some elected officials for their employees.

An account book is not maintained by the County Clerk summarizing property tax transactions and changes, and no evidence was provided to show the County Commission or County Clerk take any steps to review the accuracy of the Collector's monthly or annual settlements.

Also included in the audit were recommendations related to circuit court accounting procedures and Health Center procedures.

Complete Audit Report