Auditors give Cannon thumbs-up

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By MIKE WEST, Courier Editor

State auditors basically gave Cannon County a clean report during the 2014 annual financial report.

Only five audit findings were discovered during the audit and most of them have already been answered or corrected by county officials. None of them ranked as major problems. The findings were:
Cannon County does not require all eligible employees to participate in the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS).

As of June 30,2014 (the end of the fiscal year), the county's payroll records revealed that one Election Commission employee and 16 employees of the Sheriff's Department appeared to be eligible for the retirement program, but were not enrolled.

"This finding is the result of management's failure to correct the finding noted in prior-year audit reports," the auditors said.

Responding for Cannon County, County Executive Mike Gannon said he agreed with the state's recommendation.

"Some departments had not required their employees to enroll in TCRS. According to the payroll for Sept. 19,2014, all full-time employees are not enrolled in TCRS," Gannon said in his response.

Expenditures exceeded appropriations. Expenditures exceeded appropriations approved by the County Commission by $7,695 in the public safety category.

The County Executive also concurred with the state's conclusion.

"A budget amendment was presented to the County Commission on June 10. 2014, for $8,272 related to the Homeland Security Grant; however, the County Commission did not approve the amendment. This grant was to purchase thermal imaging machines for the Sheriff's Department at no cost to the county," Gannon reported.

Multiple employees operated from the same cash drawer in the office of the County Clerk.

"Good internal controls dictate that each employee had their own cash drawer, start the day with a standard fixed amount of cash, and remove all but the beginning amount at the end of the day," the auditors said.

Bank statements were not accurately reconciled with the general ledger in the Office of Clerk and Master.

"The office attempted to reconcile the bank statement monthly; however, the clerk did not identify all errors. Therefore, to make the reconciliations agree with the general ledger, the clerk posted a number to the general ledger so the bank statements would agree with the reconciliation. As a result, the clerk disbursed fees to the county totaling $9,406 in excess of collections," the auditors said.

Auditors recommended that the office should accurately reconcile bank statements with the general ledger monthly and any errors should be identified and correctly promptly.

The Office of Clerk and Master had deficiencies in receipting and depositing collections.

"We examined all 30 deposits made to the office bank account during the year. The office did not deposit any collections to the official bank account within three days of receipt. The delay in depositing funds weakens internal controls over collections and increases the risks of fraud and misappropriation," the auditors said.

The entire report is available at www.comptroller.tn.gov

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November 05, 2014 at 11:41am
Sounds like considerable deficiencies continue based upon the audit.
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