An Interior Department audit report of cashier operations at 12 government agencies revealed that collections were being made by unauthorized employees and were not properly documented or recorded, reports were not submitted to the Finance Department on time and cash was handled in a manner that left room for theft or misappropriation.
The audit covered $88 million collected during May and June of 1999.It was the first time the Interior Department had conducted an audit on cashier management, though 10 prior audits by the V.I. Bureau of Audit and Control had similar findings.
The audit released Tuesday identified 90 instances over the two-month period where the amount of daily deposits did not equal the amount of collections, resulting in a difference of $42,231 between collections and deposits.
The audit report said though the specific errors were small the total of $42,231 indicated a problem with internal controls relative to reconciliation that could result in theft or misappropriation.
The report also cited several agencies for lack of physical safety for cashiers and improper supervision of collectors.
DOI made nine recommendations, none of which has received a response from either the commissioner of Finance or the governor.
"On September 15 we provided a preliminary draft of this report to the commissioner of Finance requesting an exit conference to discuss the report. However, despite several followup inquiries, we were unable to schedule an exit conference with the commissioner."
The governor did not respond to the audit either and therefore the recommendations were considered unresolved.
The agencies audited were:
Bureau of Internal Revenue
Roy L. Schneider Hospital
Virgin Islands Lottery
Finance Department
Health Department
Labor Department
Police Department
Planning and Natural Resources
Licensing and Consumer Affairs
Agriculture
Public Works
Human Services