2006 county audit is revealed
By Debbie Lowe Staff writer

County leaders, including council members and commissioners, will discuss issues at a joint Wednesday evening meeting in relation to the results of the Indiana State Board of Accounts (SBOA) audit results made public Oct. 26.

The SBOA engaged county leaders and department heads in exit conferences for departments found to have problems or be out of compliance with the Indiana Code or SBOA rules.

State law dictates the auditor's and treasurer's books must be balanced monthly. In the case of Carroll County, that has not happened in the past four years. According to Tammy White, SBOA office supervisor for counties, without the balance knowledge, it would be impossible to know how much money the county has or does not have. However, those two offices were not the only offices noticed by the SBOA's 2006 audit report findings.

Emergency Medical Services

Results were discussed Sept. 5 with: Beth L. Myers, auditor; Loren Hylton, president of the board of county commissioners; Robert Baker, president of the county council; Michael Durr, EMS director; and Ann Brown and Ron Slavens, county council members.

SBOA reported EMS issues included accounts receivable balance for ambulance billings was $709,190 on Dec. 31, 2006. A comparison of collections to billing showed a significant number of accounts not being paid or not being paid on a timely basis. The accounts receivable balance increased 37 percent from the prior year. The collections for 2006 decreased when compared to 2005 collections, from $290,315 to $211,502.

Financial records were incomplete, according to SBOA. It was unclear to SBOA whether all accounts were properly billed. No evidence was presented to indicate follow-up was done on the accounts billed when payment was not received.

SBOA recommended officials establish controls to ensure billings be completed in a timely manner and follow-up made on all outstanding accounts. It was recommended that a monthly accounts review be made to determine all procedures were followed.

Each governmental unit is responsible for complying with the ordinances, resolutions and policies it adopts (Accounting and Uniform Compliance Guidelines Manual for Counties, Chapter 1).

The following record keeping deficiencies were encountered while examining the records of EMS for the period ending Dec. 31, 2006: 1.) Financial records were incomplete and did not accurately reflect all of the activity of the EMS. The financial records presented did not always agree with detail records in the auditor's office. Billing appears to be done in a haphazard manner and there is evidence not all services are billed or are not billed timely. At Dec. 31, 2006, there were only a few, if any, claims for services provided during the last quarter of the year. Invoices were observed to be dated as long as six months after the date of service. Reliance on the accuracy of the individual accounts at Dec. 31, 2006 was not possible. 2.) The balance of accounts receivable at Dec. 31, 2006 and Dec. 31, 2005, were $709,189.96 and $514,029.84, respectively. This represented an increase of the balance of approximately 37 percent. Collections decreased by $78,814 between the two years. 3.) SBOA could not find evidence individual customers were billed for amounts due not paid by insurance carriers. There was no evidence that all payments due from Medicare and Medicaid were billed timely. 4.) The accounting records used had not been prescribed or approved by the State Board of Accounts.

At times, the manual and/or computerized records, subsidiary ledgers and control ledger should agree. If the reconciled balance is less than the subsidiary or control ledgers, then the responsible official or employee may be held personally responsible for the amount needed to balance the fund.

Officials and employees are required to use SBOA prescribed or approved forms in the manner prescribed.

County Health Department

Results were discussed Sept. 5, 2007 with Myers, Hylton, Baker, Brown, Slavens and Mary Jones, vital records clerk.

As stated in the prior report, receipts were deposited later than the next business day in numerous instances. Reports of collections are prepared monthly from collections received throughout the month, however, in some instances, the receipts are not remitted to the county auditor until four months later.

SBOA noted that IC 13-6-1(c) states in part: ... "all local officers... who collect public funds of their respective political subdivisions shall deposit funds not later than the business day following the receipt of funds on business days of the depository or depositories selected by the ...local boards of finance..."

County Treasurer

The report was discussed Sept. 5 with Myers, Hylton, Baker, Brown, Slavens and Jane Brewington, treasurer.

The following deficiencies relating to the record keeping which were disclosed in the prior report were again present during the period of examination:

The record balances maintained by the auditor were not reconciled to the balance statements provided by the respec In addition, the total of deposits and investments on the treasurer's daily balance of cash and depositories were greater than the reconciled bank balances by $15,137.98. Of that amount it was determined that $21,141.40 had been posted twice to the treasurer's daily balance of cash and depositories. If this adjustment was made, the reconciled bank balances would be $6,003 greater than the daily balance of cash and depositories.tive depositories. On Dec. 31, 2006, the treasurer's adjusted depository balance was higher by $22,687.78 than the auditor's fund ledger. SBOA was unable to determine the cause of the variance.

The treasurer and auditor have not implemented internal controls, which would enable both offices to reconcile the cash and investments on the treasurer's daily balance of cash and depositories to the fund balances maintained by the auditor.

Posting errors were identified and not all transactions were posted to the treasurer's daily balance of cash and depositories. Source documents were not always available for examination that would assist in identifying the posting errors.

IC 5-13-6-1(e) states in part: "All local investment officers shall reconcile at least monthly the balance of public funds, as disclosed by the records of the local officers, with the balance statements provided by the respective depositories."

Each month, the auditor and treasurer shall prepare a monthly financial statement and reconcile cash and investment balances as shown on the statements.

In numerous instances, receipts were deposited later than the next business day. After deadlines for current tax payments for both spring and fall collections, payments were not posted or collections deposited for up to three weeks.

IC 5-13-6-1(c) states in part... "all local officers...who collect public funds or their respective political subdivisions shall deposit funds not later than the business day following the receipt of funds on business days of the depository in the depository or depositories selected by the ...local boards of finance."

All SBOA audit reports are a matter of public record and can be found by visiting Click on report findings.

The Comet will print responses from the key government leaders involved with this issue in next week's edition. Readers are encouraged to submit questions for next week's article to government leaders. Questions can be received at or by calling (765) 564-2222.