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 on audit on cashier management, but 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.
Interior officials made nine recommendations, none of which received a response from either the commissioner of Finance or the governor.
"On Sept. 15 we provided a preliminary draft of this report to the commissioner of Finance requesting an exit conference to discuss the report," the report said. "However, despite several follow-up inquiries, we were unable to schedule an exit conference with the commissioner."
The governor also did not respond to the audit 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
