Village of Hewlett Neck – Treasurer’s Duties (2022M-159)

Issued Date
March 31, 2023

[read complete report – pdf]

Audit Objective

Determine whether the Village of Hewlett Neck’s (Village) Treasurer performed his duties in accordance with statutes.

Key Findings

The Treasurer did not perform his duties in accordance with statutes. Instead, the Village Clerk (Clerk) performed many of the Treasurer’s duties, creating a lack of segregation of dutiesNeither the Board, nor the Treasurer, provided oversight to compensate for these incompatible dutiesAs a result:

  • Sixty-one of 254 collections we reviewed, totaling $86,937, were not deposited within 10 days as required by Village Law section 408.
  • The Treasurer did not sign 69 of 179 checks we reviewed, totaling $101,937; instead, checks were signed by the Mayor, Clerk and Board members, despite there being no authority in Village Law for the Clerk and Board members to sign checks in the absence of the Treasurer, Deputy Treasurer or Mayor.

In addition, the Board did not correct significant internal control deficiencies identified by the certified public accountant (CPA) firm retained for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal years.

Key Recommendations

The Treasurer should perform all duties in compliance with law and policy.In addition, the Board should:

  • Establish guidance for the Treasurer’s duties and proper segregation of duties or compensating controls including supervisory review of all aspects of financial operations.
  • Implement corrective action to the CPA management letter recommendations.

Village officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.