A state audit conducted of the 2016 taxes for the Todd County Sheriff’s Office found a repeat finding regarding lack of adequate segregation of duties over receipts and reconciliations. State Auditor Mike Harmon released the report Monday that says this is a repeat finding from the 2015 audit report. Harmon says Todd County Sheriff Stacey White has not implemented a proper segregation of duties over the account processes for collecting tax receipts and preparing reconciliation. He says the bookkeeper is responsible for collecting money from customers, preparing the daily checkout sheets, preparing the daily deposits, recording receipts to the ledgers, and preparing monthly reports. Harmon goes on to say the bookkeeper was the only person responsible for preparing ledger and bank account reconciliations, which were not reviewed or approved by the official or a designee.
State auditors recommended the sheriff segregate duties over receipts and reconciliation in order to adequately protect employees in the normal course of performing their duties and to help prevent misappropriation of assets and inaccurate financial reporting. If the sheriff cannot segregate duties, auditors recommend the sheriff implement compensating controls over these processes to mitigate the risks.
According to Sheriff White’s response in the release, the lack of segregation is due to not having enough employees in the office to be able to separate the normal duties among different staff. He indicated the sheriff’s office does not have sufficient funds to hire additional bookkeepers. He notes compensating controls have been placed to assist in avoiding this issue, and will be done for receipts and disbursements.
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