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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-30-1995 • x t r k Management Report September 30, 1995 • Deloitte & buche LLP CITY OF DENTOW TEXAS Report to Management for the Year Ended September 3Q, 1996 • OtiNttaTer~M lW-- a ti Iatenaitle•I 01 V I Deloitte & Touche t« City Center Tower II Telephone, (817) 347.3300 Suite 29" 301 Commerce Street Fcrt Worth, Texas 76102 December 15, 1995 The Honorable Mayor and City Council and City Manager City of Denton 215 E. McKinney Denton, Texas 76201 Dear Mayor, Council Members and City Manager: I. In planning and performing our audit of the general purpose financial statements of the City of Denton, (the "City"), for the year ended September 30, 1995 (on which we have issued our report dated December 15, 1995), we considered its internal control structure in order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the general purpose financial statements and not to provide assurance on the internal control structure. Our consideration of the internal control structure would not necessarily disclose all matters in the internal control structure that might be material weaknesses under standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, A description of the responsibility of managoa,ent for establishing and maintaining the internal control structure, and the objectives of the inherent limitations in such P. structure is set forth in the attached { Appendix and should be read in conjunction with this letter. A material weakness is a condition in which 1 the design or operation of the specific internal control structure elements does not reduce to a relatively low level the risk that errors or irregularities in amounts that would be material in relation to the general purpose financial statements being audited may occur and not be detected within a timely period by employees in the normal course of performing their assigned functions, We noted no matters involving the internal control structure and its operation that we consider to be material weaknesses as defined I above. We did note other matters related to the internal control structure and certain administrative and operating matters. These recommendations resulted from our observations made in connection with our audit of the City's general purpose financial statements for the year ended September 30, 1995. 171 This report is intended solely for the use of the City Council and management and should not be used for any other purpose. We will be pleased to discuss Ihcse recommendations with you further and to assist you in implementing them, Yours truly, LLP MitteNche f I T*Nt$u ~ I o r - tr OWN A • • I' TABLE OF CONTENTS i j ELECTRIC FUND FUEL INVENTORY I FIXED ASSET INVENTORY I € GRANT SUBRECIPIENT COMPLIANCE 1 { INTERNAL SERVICE FUND RETAINED DEFICIT 2 ` TRIAL BALANCE PREPARATION 2 NEW REPORTING REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO MUNICIPAL SECURITIES 3 APPENDIX ~j 1- ko • I_ e f { f • flaK~e 'lJ~•ry•sn~ ~ ,L fY • s ELECTRIC FUND FUEL INVENTORY Observation The City does not record an asset or liability for period ending imbalances with its natural gas supplier. Imbalances occur, when the City has not used all fuel purchased, or conversly has used more fuel than purchased. This treatment is not in accordance. with generally accepted accounting principles for proprietary fund types, which arc required to use fidi accrual accounting. As a result, t1e financial statements for the Electric Fund do not properly match revenues with expenses. This in turn could impact City electric rate making decisions. t Recommendation i In order to provide City management with the most accurate information regarding the operations and financial position of the electric utility, the City should consider accouming for fuel purchases using the full t accrual basis of accounting. In addition, this will provide better data for use in determining electric rates. FIXED ASSET INVENTORY t Observ4 ion Between 1965 and 1993 the City did not perform physical counts of its fixed asset inventory to confirm addition and deletions. This can result in the failure to detect losses and transfers of assets, and potential systemic problems related to fixed asset management. ftccommcndalion As the City has recently invested significant time and expense in updating the fixed asset records, a policy should be adopted to ensure that all fixed assets are counted on a periodic basis (i.e. all assets counted every 3 years). This procedure could be performed on a cycle basis such that by the end of the third year l all assets b±ve been counted. This will assist in maintaining the integrity of the fined asset subsidiary records, It is our understanding that the City is currently in the process of implementing regularly scheduled fixed asset inventories. Accordingly, policies and procedures should be established to ensure the t _ completeness, timeliness and accuracy of the count. I GRANT SUBRECIPIENT COMPLIANCE Observation Several subrecipicnts of the Community Development Block Grant program received greaterthan $25,000 i during the fiscal year. Federal guidelines provide two methods to monitor grant compliance by subrecipients: (1): program specific audits or (2) audits required under Office of Management and Budget Circular A•128 ("A- 126 audits"). While the City has the appropriate monitoring procedures in place to ® ensure compliance with grant requirements by the subrecipicnts, the subrccipicnts do not have separate A- I 128 audits. This rcgnires a significant expenditure of time by City personnel to perform the appropriate procedures related to the monitoring of subrccipicnts I i I .I [ j ..r v w. err 4 w++~i+~+l • Recommendation The City should consider requiring subrecipient,s who receive a certain level of financial assistance from the City to have a A-128 audit. Implementation of this policy would allow the reallocation of City resources which are currently allocated to monitoring subrocipients. INTERNAL SERVICE FUND RETAINED DEFICIT Observation Internal service funds provide services to other City departments and generally charge the user depattnxsnts for such services, These funds, by nature, arc designed to have little or no fund balance. The City's Fleet Services Fund, was separated from the working capital fund during the fiscal year, however it was established with a retained deficit. The fund generated an operational surplus of $88,223 for the year -nded September 30, 1995 which reduced the fund deficit to $56,811. We understand that the City has `I contemplated in its budget process a plan to eliminate the deficit in future years, Recommendation Continue to closely monitor the actual deficit in the Fleet Service Fund to ensure that it is eliminated within the time frame established. In addition, consider implementing procedures to prevent this situation from arising in the future with this or any other now or existing internal service fund, WAL BALANCE PREPARATION Observ_alion At fiscal year-end, the Finance Department personnel prepare trial balances for all funds of the City to prepare the annual financial report. Finance Department personnel spend a significant amount of time preparing year-end trial balances in a personal computer-based spreadsheet program, The City's general ledger software does not currently prepare the reports needed by the Finance Department for the creation of the annual financial report, not is it able to download such information to a personal computer-based spreadsheet, Manually reentering the data is inefficient, time consuming and increases the potential for error in creating the annual financial report. Itc~4tn~:14nda110n Explore alternatives to manually recnlering information that is already maintained in an electronic format. Thcse alternatives could include: Development of automated reports that meet the Finance Department's needs L B Providing for automated system modifications to allow for downloading such information directly into a personal computer-based spreadsheet template that meets the finance department's needs i f ( -2- • • I I Analyzing the feasibility of obtaining anew general lodger software pt•ckage which would better facilitate the preparation of customized trial balances. { NEW REPORTING REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO MUNICIPAL SFCURITIES Obsc i ri The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has issued its Rule which has the effect of imposing additional reporting requirements on issuers of municipal securities issued after July 2, 1995, The SEC, which does not have regulatory authority over municipal security issuers, has issued this rule to prohi'b'it btokerldealcrs from trading municipal securities in the secondary market without veritying that secondary purchasers have been provided arcess to information regarding the security which is equivalent to the I information provided to original purchasers, i.e, an official statement. The information is required to be provided at least annually for each material obligated person for each issue of municipal securities. l Material obligated persons include each government, corporation or other entity which has an obligation for repayment of a material portion of the security. The City may have plans to issue municipal bonds in future years to fund capital projects, These issues will be subject to the reporting requirements of the rule, I, ~ecemmendation City management should consult with bond counsel to determine the impact of reporting requirement of [ information in official statements for municipal bond issues and at least on an annual basis thereafter, i I I i e I • ° II i • r .-..1.-r-'h 4 .77 APPENDLI' MANAGEMENT'S RESPONSIBIIJ7T FOR, AND TII L OBJECTIVES AND IJAfITATIONS OF, THE INTERNAL CONTROL STRUCTURE The following comments concerning management's responsibility for the internal control structure and the i objectivOs of, and the inherent limitations in, the internal control structure arc adapted from the Staten=ts ` on Auditing Standards of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Ma gemcut's Resnmibi i Management is responsible for establishing and maintaining an internal control structure, In fulfilling this f responsibility, estimates and judgmenLv by management are required to assess the expected benefits and t related costs of internal control structure policies and procedures. Oyj_ iv The objectives of an internal control structure are to provide management with reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that assets arc safeguarded against loss from unauthorized use or disposition, and that I transactions are executed in accordance wish management's authorization and recorded properly to permit the preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. 1 i I^ Limitations Because of inherent limitations in any internal control structure, errors or irregularities nevertheless may occur and not be detected. Also, projection of any evaluation of the structure to future periods is subject to the risk that procedures may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the effectiveness of the design and operation of policies and procedures may deteriorate. h 1. i • , l OWL, a I END OF, FILE s ' a t a to y