City auditor completes Park Board audit

An internal audit report presented to Springfield City Council’s Finance and Administration Committee on June 7 suggests opportunities to mitigate risks, namely related to payroll, for the Springfield-Greene County Park Board.

Conducted by Internal Auditor Kristy Bork, the audit is part of council’s annual audit plan and covered the Park Board’s general operations, including the golf enterprise fund, according to a city news release. Because the Park Board is an administrative board set by city charter, it only covers operations and financial transactions for which City Council has governance, the release said.

With green indicating overall satisfactory or acceptable states of control, yellow indicating that controls in place need improvement, and red indicating unsatisfactory or unacceptable control, resulting in significant business risk that requires immediate attention, Bork rated two green objectives, three yellow and one red. The overall result was a yellow rating, the release said.

According to the audit:
• The sole red rating was indicated for controls and procedures in regard to recording time for payroll. During the summer months, the Park Board employs more than 700 staff members, who are paid every two weeks, the release said. The timekeeping process is largely manual, with paper time sheets. Bork recommended implementing an automated time system to better manage wage-and-hour policies and uses paper timesheets.
The auditor noted other city departments also use manual timesheets and, according to the release, city management is now developing a plan to move all departments to an electronic time system.
• Yellow ratings were indicated for the effectiveness of cash collection procedures, with segregation of duties to minimize risk of loss due to error or theft; for controls of park purchases and construction contracts; and controls of budget and spending, to ensure that the Park Board is making informed decisions based on accurate and timely information provided by management.
• Green ratings were indicated for the effectiveness of internal controls for collection, administration and record-keeping of the 2001 and 2006 countywide park sales taxes, as well as for internal controls of the approval of purchasing card transactions.