Show STATEMENT SMUT OF CITY AUDIT to disabuse the public mind of any wrong impressions it may entertain relative to the audits of the tooele thoele city bocks the mayor and city council counci I 1 present the following summary and excerpts taken auditors reports cities even smaller and most all cities as large as tooele thoele have installed up to date and adequate system of accounts and it was thought that the best interests of the public would be conserved by having the tooele thoele city books and records audited and placed in a condition so that a system of accounts could be installed with this thought in view beesley reeves co certified public accountants coun tants of salt lake city were engaged and audited the books and records beginning january 1st ast 1913 to june soth 1920 the following statement is made by them relative to the scope of the work accomplished we have audited the books and records of the four departments of your city namely the city recorder the city Trea the water department and the we submit h herewith ere our report together t with h the following exhibits and schedules d ules exhibit A summary of cash receipts journal from January jl 11 1913 to june 30 1920 exhibit B statement of cash disbursements from january 1 1913 to june 80 1920 schedule no 1 statement of water bonds payable as of june 30 1920 1 in auditing the records of the city recorder and treasurer it is t the cash on hand at the beginning of the audit and cash received during the period of the audit amounted to cash balance that should be on hand june 30 1920 bance balance on hand and in bank june 30 1920 cash unaccounted for due to tho the fact that during the entire period of the audit it was not the practice of the alie treasurer to make monthly bank reconcile ments and thus verify the cash balance shown by the books it is im impossible possible to determine when ang and how the shortage ac cured an examination of the water bond register showed this record to be in good order and in balance A number of tests testa were made to verify receipts of money for licenses credits to pr erty owners on account of paying paving assessments etc also statements of receipts to library fund and disbursements bur were completed and these were reconciled with the books of the recorder statement of receipts receipt a by the water department and deposits thereof were made aside from duplicate receipts there are no financial records kept in this department part ment merely memorandum cards showing dates covered by payments made in many cases money paid II 11 was deposited to the water dept account without receipts being made which thus destroyed all means of tio tion n total receipts total deposits amt deposited in ex cess of receipts for which apner antly no receipts were given general recommendations in making recommendations for the imp improvement rovel ment of the lity city records we want first to impress the importance of installing a general ledger in which should be kept accounts with all departments of the city accounts with peets assets owned and liabilities owing and from which a monthly balance of all departments can be taken at present the city owns thousands of dollars in various properties without a ledger record of same being kept the lack of which invariably results in losses to the city through neglect and carelessness in proper accounting earlier in this report under water works Depart department mert we have shown that in revenue came from water users with mith absolutely no financial record as to where the money came from there is urgent need of a don consumers sumers ledger in this taix depart ment which would reflect individual charges to consumers the amounts and dates of their payments and also balances due at any time from each consumer all departments responsible for the collecting of money should be provided with duplicate receipt books numerically numbered 1 and under no conditions receive money without giving a proper receipt in the case of all expenditures wo we recommend that a voucher jacket be kept to which should be attached creditors invoices both properly approved bearing the warrant number paying same and filed in numerical order we urge the immediate atten tion of bour auditing committee to the importance of installing this accounting system from the above it can readily bo be seen that the records are inadequate and the necessity of installing a system and having the records cordi nate in such a way that the auditing committee each month or at regular intervals can audit the cites accounts and know ahat the records are being kept up to date and in such a manner that an external audit can be made mada it at any ally time deemed necessary by the council acting under the advice of beesley reeves co recognized certified public accountants of salt lake city warburton and wagstaff accountants of tooele thoele were instructed to audit the books and records from the close of the former audit june 30 1920 to june 80 30 1921 and install a system of accounts embodying the recommendations of the beesley reeves co and such features as they deem necessary to properly account for and protect the cites it ys finances no irregularities Irregular ties as to the cites finances were discovered disc dered by warburton and wagstaff practically the same tests and examinations made by beesley reeves co were made by them for the period under their audit they emphasize the recommendations nade made by the beesley reeves co and point out the impossibility of making a satisfactory audit under the existing form of accounts the following recommendations are features embodied in the system of accounts which make it possible for the auditing committee to keep in close contact with the cites finances and accounts see that all warrants are pro perly distributed and signed for authorization for payment check monthly trial balance of the general ledger verify general ledger account of water department customers with total as presented by water department clerk verify bank reconciliation with ledger account of treasurer cash the reports of the auditors are of course to extensive to be presented in full in the paper the above is given to give the public in a general idea of the audits made and the necessity of installing an up to date system of accounts copies of the complete audits audas are on file in the cita city recorders office at the city hall and are open to citizens the system of accounts will be gladly explained by the recorder to those interested dated the ath day of dec 1921 by order of the mayor and city council attest JOS A WAGSTAFF city Rde recorder order |