Finding Text
Segregation of Duties - Child Nutrition Cluster Criteria: The small size of the School District's business office staff limits the extent of separation of duties. The basic premise in an ideal accounting office is that no one employee should have access to both physical assets and the related accounting records or to all phases of a transaction. Some examples of lack of segregation of duties at the School District are as follows: The individual who receives checks on a routine basis also prepares the deposit. The same individual also reviews the receivables aging trial balance, investigates receivable discrepancies, and maintains or authorizes receivables adjustments as well as investigates discrepancies or issues related to revenue. For the cafeteria, one person receives the cash receipts, enters the deposit into the accounting system, and makes the deposit at the fmancial institution. One employee initiates checks for expenditures, edits the vendor master file, and investigates discrepancies or issues related to expenditures. Condition: The School District has a limited number of staff responsible for or access to various stages of the accounting processes. Cause: The District does not have the number of employees necessary in the business office to properly segregate all duties. Recommendation: Ideally, the District would hire the number of staff necessary to segregate all duties. However, we realize segregation of duties is not practical, if not impossible. Because of this internal control situation, the responsibility of the Business Manager is greatly increased because the Board must rely on her knowledge of the everyday operations to discover any material changes in the School District's fmancial position. Effect: A lack in separation of duties makes the School District more susceptible to misappropriation of District Assets. Views of Responsible Official and Planned Corrective Action: See corrective action plan included in this report package.