2022-03 Mass Transit Cash Handling Follow-up

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Segregate Incompatible Duties Condition and Cause One person collected, counted, and reconciled cash. Effect of the Condition MTA did not have adequate segregation of duties to ensure cash deposits were accurate. Recommendation 4.1 We recommend that Mass Transit management separate incompatible duties. One individual should not be in charge of all of the cash handling elements:physical custody of cash, depositing cash, recording/adjusting transactions in the system, and reconciling the revenue accounts. If duties cannot be sufficiently segregated, mitigating controls, such as independent monitoring could be implemented. Agency Action MTA said they updated their cash handling procedures to address segregation of duties. Audit Activity To verify status, we: Reviewed Written Procedures: • A backup list for the cash handling staff exists if one or more cash processors is not available Observation: • Verified recording/adjusting transactions and reconciling revenue accounts is performed by a person independent of the cash processing • Verified a noncash handling person reconciles revenue accounts and that the revenues are reconciled with the general ledger in the County's accounting system We noted the following exceptions: • The cash handling process is not performed under dual control in all cases • Reconciliation procedures are not fully developed • Cash verification is performed by one account clerk and a security guard or the vendor employee. This is not appropriate since the security guard or vendor employees do not work for the County nor are they under contract to perform this work To fully implement this recommendation MTA will implement dual control over their cash handling processes. Status: Partially Implemented 16 Segregate Incompatible Duties