06/20/2024 - Jefferson City, MO
A closeout audit of the
Missouri Attorney General's Office released today by State
Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick gives the previous administration under the
leadership of former Attorney General Eric Schmitt a rating of "good."
The audit
covers finances and procedures for the previous administration, up to the
transition of Attorney General Andrew Bailey into office.
The State Auditor conducts
closeout audits of statewide offices to assist in transitions and ensure that newly-elected
officeholders are aware of areas for improvement.
The report details how the Financial Services
Section for the Office of Attorney General needs to improve policies and
procedures over accounts receivable collections. Of the 40 cases selected for
review, auditors noted an improvement in the accounts receivable case records
since the previous audit in 2020, but also recommend further improvements to
ensure adequate and timely collection activities. Of the 40 cases, the audit
notes that 9 have remaining balances totaling approximately $559,000 for
which collection efforts were not performed
in recent years.
The
audit also found accounting personnel did not prepare a monthly list of
liabilities for the Merchandising Practices Restitution bank account. The report notes accounting personnel reconcile the bank account balance to the book
balance monthly. However, a list of liabilities was not prepared and reconciled
to the reconciled bank balance during the period September 2021 through March
2023.
Additionally, the audit found the office's Information
Technology Department (ITD) has not established policies over electronic
equipment assigned to employees and ITD procedures do not require a complete
record supporting the equipment (laptop
computer, cell phone, etc.) assigned to, and returned from, terminated
employees. The report also found the office did not maintain complete vehicle
usage logs for 1 pool vehicle of the 6 that were reviewed.
The
complete audit can be found here.
