Published: January 26, 2010 11:05 am      

Luallen releases audit of Wayne County Sheriff's tax settlement

Monticello — State Auditor Crit Luallen has released the audit of the Sheriff's Tax

Settlement-2008 Taxes for Wayne County Sheriff Charles Boston for the period

of June 1, 2008 through June 12, 2009.

State law requires the auditor to annually audit the accounts of each

county sheriff. In compliance with this law, the auditor issues two

sheriff's reports each year‹one reporting on the audit of the sheriff's tax

account and the other reporting on the audit of the fee account used to

operate the office.

The audit found that the sheriff's financial statement fairly presents

the taxes charged, credited and paid, for the period of June 1, 2008 through

June 12, 2009, in conformity with the modified cash basis of accounting.

As part of the audit process, the auditor must comment on non-compliance

with laws, regulations, contracts and grants. The auditor must also comment

on material weaknesses involving the internal control over financial

operations and reporting.

The audit contains the following comments.

The sheriff's office lacks adequate segregation of duties. This occurs

when only one person has control over various elements of a single account,

e.g. deposits and payments.

The report recognizes that due to the diversity of operations, small

size, and budget restrictions, the sheriff has limited options for

establishing a segregation of duties.

However, the audit provides the sheriff with specific recommendations

for improvement of procedures.

The sheriff's office should strengthen internal controls over the

computerized accounting system. During the review of internal controls over

receipts and disbursements, auditors noted the following control deficiency

with regard to the sheriff's computerized accounting software. Auditors

consider the control deficiency to be a significant deficiency in internal

control over financial reporting:

€ The sheriff's office does not have a computer policy and procedures

manual available to all computer operators.

€ The sheriff's office does not provide training for both general

computer operations and software packages for new computer operators and no

refresher courses are provided.

€ Computer passwords are not changed at regular intervals.

€ Computer modem is not logically turned off or physically disconnected

when not in use, in order to prevent unauthorized access.

€ The sheriff's office does not have procedures in place in case of

virus infection.

The audit recommends the sheriff's office strengthen internal controls

over computerized accounting systems in order to prevent unauthorized

access.

The sheriff's responsibilities include collecting property taxes,

providing law enforcement and performing services for the fiscal court and

courts of justice. The sheriff's office is funded through statutory

commissions and fees collected in conjunction with these duties.

This report, in its entirety, can be accessed at www.auditor.ky.gov.