Audit Completed on Springfield Municipal Court

What led to the theft of at least $1,356,072 from the City of Springfield Municipal Court? According to State Auditor Susan Montee, a "total breakdown in supervision and oversight."

Ms. Montee presented the findings of the audit tonight in City Council chambers. From her summary:

• Little or no supervisory review and poorly implemented internal controls allowed the misappropriation to occur and avoid detection
• Neither the city nor the municipal court compared revenues reported  to actual court receipt records
• Investigations by the city's finance department were inadequate
• No recon was done on method of payments received against the composition of total deposits (the thief was swapping out credit card transactions with cash)
• Finance department personnel were, at one point,  nine months behind in preparing bond account bank reconciliations

When Montee was questioned about the handling of receipts, she said "it was a disaster." The court's Accounting Services Representative was responsible for both depositing and reporting court receipts. No checks and balances.

It is estimated that 13% of the missing funds should have gone into different departments, such as law enforcement training and victim's compensation.

The audit report isn't on the web yet, but when it is, you can go here and look for audit number 2007-30.

The audit of the City of Springfield and City Utilities are still in progress.

Comments

[tom]

And we find this unusual HOW?????