Audit: $58,000 in Funds Missing from ULM Dept. of Recreational Services
By: Staff
Updated: January 10, 2013
An audit of the University of Louisiana at Monroe found that $58,000 in funds were missing from the Department of Recreational Services.
ULM President Dr. Nick Bruno held a news conference Thursday afternoon to respond to the audit.
"It's always much better when you can sit here and say, we've addressed this, but when you have to sit here and say it'll take us six months to deal with it or a year to correct it, that becomes a much more complicated process. this particular audit, while unfortunate, it has already been addressed and dealt with" said Dr. Bruno.
It should be noted that ULM asked that the audit be released today. It was scheduled to go public on Monday.
ULM's internal auditor issued a report stating that $58,554 in funds were missing from the the Department of Recreational Services (DRS) as a result of control deficiencies
over cash.
The report noted that additional funds could be missing because some pre-numbered receipts had been totally removed from the receipt books and approximately three months of cash register tapes were not located.
The internal audit report disclosed control deficiencies that included, but were not limited to,
the following:
A criminal background check was not performed before hiring an employee
whose job duties included handling cash. The employee was later found to
have a felony conviction for theft prior to her employment at the University.
Pre-numbered receipts were not adequately controlled and accounted for. For
example, when additional receipt books were purchased, the numbers on the
new receipts did not follow the same sequence as the old receipts. In
addition, there was no record maintained of the receipt books purchased,
issued, and on hand.
Employee duties were not adequately segregated. The same employee's job
duties included receiving monies, completing pre-numbered receipts, entering
receipts in the cash register, preparing deposit forms, and making deposits at
the bank.
All monies received in the DRS were not reconciled with the amounts
deposited or posted to the accounting system, and there was no indication of
an independent review of the deposits.
Records related to cash collections were in disarray and certain records
requested could not be located, which may indicate noncompliance with
Louisiana Revised Statute 44:36 regarding preserving of public records.
Cash receipts were not deposited timely. The average number of days
between deposits was from seven to 87 days.
ULM officials say they've made the necessary steps to make sure this doesn't happen again and those employees believes to be involved are no longer with the university.
ULM President Dr. Nick Bruno held a news conference Thursday afternoon to respond to the audit.
"It's always much better when you can sit here and say, we've addressed this, but when you have to sit here and say it'll take us six months to deal with it or a year to correct it, that becomes a much more complicated process. this particular audit, while unfortunate, it has already been addressed and dealt with" said Dr. Bruno.
It should be noted that ULM asked that the audit be released today. It was scheduled to go public on Monday.
ULM's internal auditor issued a report stating that $58,554 in funds were missing from the the Department of Recreational Services (DRS) as a result of control deficiencies
over cash.
The report noted that additional funds could be missing because some pre-numbered receipts had been totally removed from the receipt books and approximately three months of cash register tapes were not located.
The internal audit report disclosed control deficiencies that included, but were not limited to,
the following:
A criminal background check was not performed before hiring an employee
whose job duties included handling cash. The employee was later found to
have a felony conviction for theft prior to her employment at the University.
Pre-numbered receipts were not adequately controlled and accounted for. For
example, when additional receipt books were purchased, the numbers on the
new receipts did not follow the same sequence as the old receipts. In
addition, there was no record maintained of the receipt books purchased,
issued, and on hand.
Employee duties were not adequately segregated. The same employee's job
duties included receiving monies, completing pre-numbered receipts, entering
receipts in the cash register, preparing deposit forms, and making deposits at
the bank.
All monies received in the DRS were not reconciled with the amounts
deposited or posted to the accounting system, and there was no indication of
an independent review of the deposits.
Records related to cash collections were in disarray and certain records
requested could not be located, which may indicate noncompliance with
Louisiana Revised Statute 44:36 regarding preserving of public records.
Cash receipts were not deposited timely. The average number of days
between deposits was from seven to 87 days.
ULM officials say they've made the necessary steps to make sure this doesn't happen again and those employees believes to be involved are no longer with the university.
