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YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
December 22, 2000
Report No. 2000-130
The following audit report presents our findings and
recommendations for the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, Jackson County,
Missouri.� During our audit, we
identified accounting records, controls, and certain management practices which
we believe could be improved.�
The
receipts for the Child Support Section were approximately $60 million
annually.� In June 1998, the court
started using the Missouri Automated Child Support System (MACSS).� As a part of the implementation of this
statewide system, the court allowed the Office of the State Courts
Administrator (OSCA) to start preparing bank reconciliations on the child
support bank account.� Our review of these
reconciliations noted the following concerns:
Checks
which have been outstanding for a considerable length of time should be
periodically reviewed to determine if the checks should be canceled and
reissued if the payee can be located.� Failure
to follow up on outstanding child support checks in a timely manner
unnecessarily deprives custodial parents of monies due them.� If the payees of old outstanding checks
can be identified and located, these checks should be reissued.
Criminal restitution payments are processed through the
court�s criminal office in Kansas City.�
Restitution receipts average approximately $500,000 annually.� Our review noted the following concern:
�
The court has money on deposit in the criminal
restitution bank account which cannot be properly distributed because the
victims can no longer be located.� Since
an open-items list is not prepared, the court cannot monitor these monies to
ensure that they are disbursed in accordance with state law.�
The Criminal Records Section maintains offices in Kansas
City and Independence.� Separate bank
accounts and records are maintained by the Kansas City and Independence
offices.� Criminal receipts for both
offices average more than $4 million annually.�
Our review noted the following concerns:
�
A complete listing of accrued costs owed to the
criminal division is not maintained and cost cards detailing amounts due to the
court for each case are not prepared on a timely basis.� A complete and accurate accrued cost listing
would allow the court to more easily review the amounts owed to the court, and
take appropriate steps to ensure all amounts owed are collected on a timely
basis.�
The court�s Civil Section collects costs and other receipts for each case filed in the civil division.� Our audit noted garnishment proceeds exceeding $1.2 million and other court costs totaling over $9.5 million that had not been disbursed in a timely manner.� Some of the cases relating to these moneys dated as far back as the 1970�s.� To ease the administrative burden on the court and to provide these monies to the appropriate parties, distribution of funds must be done in a timely manner.
A detailed job description has not been developed for the
Fiscal Officer position.� The court�s
general ledger has not been properly maintained, bank accounts have not been
properly reconciled, running book balances have not been maintained, and
interest earned on Title IV-D child support collections has not been disbursed
to the state in a timely manner.
