Finding 498579 (2023-001)

Significant Deficiency
Requirement
P
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2023
Accepted
2024-09-26
Audit: 321321
Organization: City of Chisholm (MN)
Auditor: Sterle & CO LTD

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The City lacks proper segregation of duties, which is essential for preventing errors and fraud in financial transactions.
  • Impacted Requirements: Effective control systems require that no single employee handles multiple roles in approval, custody, record keeping, and reconciliation.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: The City should maintain oversight and be aware of the risks associated with limited staff and the need for proper duty separation.

Finding Text

Lack of segregation of duties - significant deficiency Criteria: For an effective control system, division of accounting duties should exist to prevent errors or misappropriations from going undetected in the course of employees performing their assigned duties. No one individual should have more than one duty related to approval, custody of assets, record keeping, and reconciliation functions. Condition: The City does not have enough staff to adequately separate duties over some financial transactions. Context: The lack of segregation of duties exits within the City as a whole over some of its accounting and reporting functions. This is a common circumstance in governments of similar size. Cause: Limited number of staff available to appropriately divide duties. Effect: Errors or misappropriations could occur and go undetected for a period of time. Questioned Costs: Not applicable Recommendation: The City be cognizant of the situation and provide appropriate oversight as deemed necessary. Views of Responsible Officials and Corrective Actions: The City agress with the recommendations and continues to provide oversight as needed.

Corrective Action Plan

Lack of segregation of duties - significan deficiency Name of contact person responsible for corrective acttion - Devin Ceglar, City Clerk-Treasurer Corrective action planned - The City Clerk-Treasurer will attempt to monitor transactions and structure the duties of the office personnel to ensure as much segregation of duties as possible within the City's staffing limitations and funding contraints. Anticipated completion date - ongoing

Categories

Internal Control / Segregation of Duties Reporting Significant Deficiency

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 1075021 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
10.766 Community Facilities Loans and Grants $2.81M
21.027 Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds $5,654