Town of Parish - Financial Condition and Supervisor's Records (2019M-58)

Issued Date
May 29, 2019

[read complete report - pdf]

Audit Objective

Determine whether the Board adequately managed the Town’s financial condition and received accurate financial reports to help it do so.

Key Findings

  • The Board did not adopt structurally balanced budgets and did not monitor the budgets throughout the year. As a result, the Town accumulated excessive fund balances in its general funds of about $1 million and deficit fund balances in its highway funds of over $1.1 million at the end of 2017.
  • When combined together, the general and highway town-wide (TW) funds ended 2017 with a deficit fund balance of about $166,000.
  • The Supervisor did not provide the Board with accurate financial reports for managing financial condition.

Key Recommendations

  • The Board should adopt structurally balanced budgets and make timely budget modifications throughout the year.
  • The Board should transfer funds from the general funds to the highway funds to reduce or eliminate the fund balance deficits.
  • The Supervisor should review the bookkeeper’s work to ensure that the accounting records and reports are accurate and complete.

Town officials agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.