State Audit Findings For Giles County Ending 30 June 2011

Audit ending 30 June 2011 for Giles County with six findings and recommendations, which have been reviewed with

Giles County management.  

OFFICE OF FINANCE DIRECTOR

♦ A revenue anticipation note was not issued in compliance with state statute.

OFFICE OF DIRECTOR OF SCHOOLS

♦ Expenditures exceeded appropriations.

♦ The School Department had deficiencies in the use of federal Special Education Cluster funds.

OFFICE OF  CIRCUIT, GENERAL SESSIONS, AND JUVENILE COURTS CLERK

♦ The office did not deposit some funds within three days of collection.

♦ The court software did not have adequate application controls.

OFFICES OF CLERK AND MASTER, REGISTER, AND SHERIFF

♦ Duties were not segregated adequately.

FINDING 11.01 A REVENUE ANTICIPATION NOTE WAS NOT ISSUED IN COMPLIANCE WITH STATE STATUTE

(Material Noncompliance Under Government Auditing Standards) During the year, the Highway/Public Works Fund borrowed $450,000 from the General Fund to provide cash for operations in anticipation of revenue collections.  This loan was not approved by the state  Comptroller’s Office.  Section 9-21-801,  Tennessee Code Annotated,  allows the County Commission to issue revenue anticipation notes with the approval of the state Comptroller’s Office.  This deficiency resulted from a lack of oversight by management.

RECOMMENDATION

Revenue anticipation notes should be approved by the state Comptroller’s Office as required by state statute.

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OFFICE OF DIRECTOR OF SCHOOLS FINDING 11.02 EXPENDITURES EXCEEDED APPROPRIATIONS

(Noncompliance Under Government Auditing Standards)

Salaries exceeded appropriations in 32 payroll line-item accounts in the General Purpose School and School Federal Projects funds by amounts ranging from $2 to $119,534.  Section 5-9-401, Tennessee Code Annotated, states that “All funds from whatever source derived, including, but not limited to, taxes, county aid funds, federal funds, and fines, that are to be used in the operation and respective programs for the various departments, commissions,

institutions, boards, offices, and agencies of county governments shall be appropriated to such use by the county legislative bodies.”   Also, the budget resolution approved by the County Commission states that the salary, wages, or enumeration of each official, employee, or agent of the county will not exceed expenditures that accompany this

resolution.  Therefore, the salaries that exceeded line-item appropriations were expenditures not approved by the County Commission.   These deficiencies exist because management failed to hold spending to the limits authorized by the County Commission, which resulted in unauthorized expenditures.

RECOMMENDATION 

Expenditures should be held within appropriations approved by the County Commission.

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FINDING 11.03   THE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT HAD DEFICIENCIES IN THE USE OF FEDERAL SPECIAL EDUCATION CLUSTER FUNDS(Noncompliance Under  Government Auditing Standards and OMB Circular A-133)

 

On September 29, 2010, the State of Tennessee, Department of Education, Division of Special Education released a monitoring report on the Special Education Cluster programs in Giles County for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010.  The results of that monitoring disclosed the following deficiencies: A. The School Department allowed an Odyssey software program paid for and tagged as equipment purchased with IDEA Recovery Act funds to be used by

all students, rather than exclusively by special education students.  The School Department has subsequently repaid the $50,000 in unallowable costs to the Tennessee Department of Education from the General Purpose School Fund.

B. The School Department allowed an IDEA funded teacher to work with higher level kindergarten students from December 2009 through May 2010. The School Department calculated the time spent on unallowable activities at

76.5 hours, for a total salary and benefits cost of $2,910. The  School Department has subsequently repaid the unallowable costs to the Tennessee Department of Education from the General Purpose School Fund. This monitoring report along with management’s responses and corrective action plans may be obtained from the state Department of Education, Division of Special Education,

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OFFICE OF CIRCUIT, GENERAL SESSIONS, AND JUVENILE COURTS CLERK FINDING 11.04 THE OFFICE DID NOT DEPOSIT  SOME  FUNDS WITHIN THREE DAYS OF COLLECTION

(Noncompliance Under Government Auditing Standards)

In some instances, the clerk did not deposit funds within three days of collection.  Section  5-8-207, Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA), requires county officials to deposit public funds to the office bank account within three days of collection.  This deficiency is the result of management oversight.  The delay in depositing the funds increases the risks of fraud and misappropriation.

RECOMMENDATION

The clerk should ensure that all funds are deposited to the office bank account within three days of collection as required by state statute.

MANAGEMENT’S RESPONSE  –  CIRCUIT, GENERAL SESSIONS, AND JUVENILE COURTS CLERK

I would like to add that there was no fraud or misappropriation of funds found.  Our auditor sat down with us and showed us the problem, and we have taken steps to correct it. Deposits will be taken to the bank in a manner to comply with TCA Section 5-8-207.

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FINDING 11.05 THE COURT SOFTWARE DID NOT HAVE ADEQUATE APPLICATION CONTROLS 

(Internal Control – Significant Deficiency Under Government Auditing Standards) The following deficiencies relating to the office’s software application were identified: 

A. Although the application was designed to generate a consecutive number for each receipt, the auditor observed instances of skipped receipt numbers on daily collection reports. These skips could not be explained by the vendor. On other occasions, one receipt number was assigned to multiple receipts.

B. Users could receipt collections to a previous date. This created a skip in the receipt numbers listed on the current day’s collection report. However, because of the irregularities noted in  Item A., it would be difficult to

determine what caused the skip.

C. On a least one occasion, the software application generated a check to the wrong payee.  These deficiencies could call into question the reliability and integrity of information maintained in the system. Controls addressing these deficiencies have been implemented by the vendor; therefore, these deficiencies have been corrected.

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OFFICES OF CLERK AND MASTER, REGISTER, AND SHERIFF FINDING 11.06 DUTIES WERE NOT SEGREGATED ADEQUATELY

(Internal Control  –  Significant Deficiency  Under  Government  Auditing Standards)

Duties were not segregated adequately among the officials and employees in the Offices of Clerk and Master, Register, and Sheriff.  The officials and employees responsible for maintaining accounting records were also involved in receipting, depositing, and/or disbursing funds.   Accounting standards provide that internal control disbursing funds.   Accounting standards provide that internal controls be designed to provide reasonable assurance of the reliability in financial reporting and of the effectiveness and efficiency in operations.  This lack of segregation of duties is the result of management decisions based on the availability of financial resources and is a significant deficiency in internal controls that increases the risk of unauthorized transactions.  Also, this deficiency is the result of management’s failure to correct the finding noted in the prior-year audit report.

RECOMMENDATION

The clerk and master, register, and sheriff should segregate duties to the extent possible using available resources.

MANAGEMENT’S RESPONSE – REGISTER

The cost of hiring enough employees to segregate each step involved is not feasible for the Register’s Office.  We now have only two employees in the office.  The budget will not allow us to increase our staff to comply with this recommendation.

AUDITOR’S COMMENT

We have not recommended hiring additional employees.  We realize that due to limited resources and personnel, management may not be able to fully segregate duties among employees. However, duties should be segregated to the extent possible.

Religious Victory or Another Dupe By The Liberals?

This past week saw a tremendous coming together of democrats and republicans, people of many different religious faiths and people who follow no religion to stand against the abuse of power by the current administration in demanding that all institutions, including religion based, provide health insurance that would guarantee free birth control including abortions to all employees including spouses and dependents. It did not matter if this went against the most basic beliefs of those institution they were ordered to comply. This was the most open attack, by this administration thus far, on our guaranteed Constitutional rights to religious freedom, it will not be the last.
The backlash was great and the president finally came on TV and stated that he was changing the requirement and employers would not be required to pay directly for birth control and abortions but that he was ordering insurance companies to provide the services for free.

Here's part of the problem with that. First by what power does the president presume to order private companies to deliver services at their expense? Second, does anyone with an active brain cell actually think the cost of these services will not be spread out in other areas of policies and those religious institutions would then pay for the birth control and abortions indirectly? Third, what this president did was gain a victory for himself and those who support population control through the use of abortions by proposing a tremendous policy that was repugnant to most all and then draw back to a less repulsive position, The end result is that if this policy is not changed the goal of providing free birth control including abortions to all females is implemented. There is absolutely no authority other than sheer arrogance that allows the government to intervene, dictate and control of the religious beliefs and practices of Christians.

I strongly urge you to contact your representatives at all levels and tell them how disgusting this policy of government intrusion is. Do not be deceived there is a war against Christianity raging in this country right now and it is being led by the ultra liberals and aided by those who accept the incremental chipping away of our religious rights.

President or King

   President -  an official chosen to preside over a meeting or                                 assembly; an appointed governor of a subordinate political unit.

King -  a male monarch;  a paramount chief

Basically a  president presides over while a king rules over. A president presides over a government of laws and is subject to those laws while a king makes laws to be imposed on others.

 The question is do we now have a king in Washington D.C. or a president.

Clearly the current chief of state has exempted himself and his family and friends from the rule of law as imposed by the constitution.

Examples of this:

Stopping all drilling in the Gulf of Mexico by this country even after a federal judge ruled the order was illegal

Ordering all insurance companies to provide free birth control including abortions to all women.

Ordering what foods individuals are free to eat, while they feast on Kobe steaks and huge platters of ribs.

Refusing to abide by a budget as required by the Constitution,

Ordering Religious institutions to do things against their most basic religious beliefs and practices.

Taking money from some private institutions and giving it to favored private institution that gave huge amounts of money for his election.

Taking money from private individuals and giving it to unions then using taxpayer money to bail out two auto companies then give one company to a foreign auto company.

Taking money from responsible home owners and using it to bailout 

deadbeats and people who over bought.

There are many more examples but you should see the picture by now.

When the Revolution was over and we had won our independence from England George Washington was approached with the idea of being the king of this new land, he rejected the idea choosing instead to serve eight years as president. This was the pattern until Roosevelt took control but even he was held to the Constitution. Today Obama has exceeded his authority and acted as a king with hardly an eyebrow being raised.