State
Auditor Nicole Galloway today released an audit of the 32nd Judicial Circuit in
Cape Girardeau County. The report gave a rating of "fair" and made
several recommendations to improve financial controls and procedures.
The
audit found the circuit clerk's office did not complete bank reconciliations
for either the Criminal Division or Civil Division bank accounts for long
periods of time. Both accounts showed significant balance discrepancies before
the Civil Division account was reconciled by the Office of State Courts
Administrator in 2020 and combined with the Criminal Division account. The
audit also showed accounting duties have not been adequately segregated, and
there has not been satisfactory independent supervisory review of accounting
and bank records.
The
audit also found the court did not assess a required $25 fee (known as a
time-payment fee) on approximately 1,000 juvenile cases, and the circuit clerk
did not periodically review outstanding court costs owed to the circuit court.
In addition, court clerks processed fee adjustments without an independent or
supervisory review, periodic reviews of user access to court systems have not
been performed to ensure access rights are commensurate with job
responsibilities, and annual budgets were not prepared for several court funds.
A
complete copy of the report is online here.
