2016-01 Performance Audit Report: Cash Handling at County of Hawai'i's Department of Parks and Recreation

Home

Summary of errors found at both Hilo and Kona Error Identified: # of Errors Identified Hilo Kona The waived permit use date was not posted on the County website and/or not recorded on the reservation log. 2 2 The reservation log user fee does not match the actual user fee charged. 1 2 The treasury receipt was incorrectly coded to pavilion revenue instead of facility use revenue. 1 0 A check was written two weeks prior to being processed as a permit and deposited or we were unable to determine when the check was written. 1 9 The payment type was not listed on the general fund daily deposit record to reconcile to the user permit. 1 10 The check was written to the Dept. of Parks & Rec and County of Hawai'i instead of the County Director of Finance. 3 9 The user permit sequence (date) did not correspond with the treasury (date) receipt sequence. 0 2 Figure 3 Individually errors or irregularities may not be significant. However, when combined, they demonstrate that policies and procedures are not adequately followed, or understood, as well as a lack of monitoring by management. Undetected errors may result in: • financial misstatements, • inaccurate or incomplete information, • uninformed operational decisions, and • the inability to detect irregularities including theft or misappropriation. For instance, while reviewing transactions at Kona, we identified blocks of business days where daily deposits were not logged (four days in June, three days in July, three days in August, and four days in September 2015). Facilities in Kona are typically fully rented, especially during the summer months. In our opinion, based on the routine frequencies of daily deposits during these four months of peak usage, it is unusual that there were multiple days where no deposit or revenue was recorded. Due to the lack of monitoring and adherence to policies and procedures, we cannot determine if these breaks in revenue are correct or accurate. In Hilo, revenue was logged daily with no breaks in deposits. Cash Handling for Facility Use Permits: Audit Results 115