Audit Report on the Cash Controls at the New York City Clerk’s Manhattan Office

AUDIT REPORT IN BRIEF

Download the Complete Audit Report (pdf 196 kb)

The audit determined whether the City Clerk’s Manhattan Office is in compliance with Comptroller’s Directive #11, “Cash Accountability and Control.” The City Clerk is appointed by the City Council and serves as both the Clerk of the City of New York and the Clerk of the City Council.

The City Clerk maintains two separate bureaus under its jurisdiction: the Marriage Bureau and the Lobbying Bureau. The Marriage Bureau provides marriage licenses, domestic partnership registration, civil marriage ceremonies, registration of marriage officiates, copies and amendments of marriage records, and certificates of non-impediment. The Lobbying Bureau is responsible for the enforcement of the City’s lobbying law, including the registration of lobbyists and the receipt and audit of periodic reports from lobbyists on their lobbying activities. The City Clerk charges the public various fees for these services. The City Clerk’s operations, like those of all other City agencies, must comply with Comptroller’s Directive #11, which provides guidance for the internal control and accountability for cash.

The City Clerk’s largest office is in Manhattan, which processes all mail requests, including requests forwarded by the other borough offices, for certified copies of marriage certificates. In Fiscal Year 2007, the City Clerk’s Manhattan Office (Manhattan Office) collected revenues of $2.7 million, approximately 55 percent of the total revenue collected by all five borough offices.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

The Manhattan Office generally adheres to the guidelines for internal controls over cash receipts established by Comptroller’s Directive #11. The audit determined that the Manhattan Office accepts as payment only money orders and certified checks from the public and company checks from the lobbyists. The Manhattan Office also issues computer-generated, sequentially-numbered receipts, makes daily deposits, requires two signatures for the issuance of refund checks, and performs monthly bank reconciliations. In addition, the deposits are reconciled to the amounts recorded in the City Financial Management System (FMS).

The audit also identified some internal control weaknesses; however, these weaknesses were not material enough to detract from our overall conclusion. They included the following: inadequate controls over blank certificates and marriage licenses, lack of reconciliation of fees collected with fees deposited, ability of employees to override their own transactions, and inadequate controls over the issuance of refund checks.

Audit Recommendations

Based on our findings, we make nine recommendations, five of which are listed below. The City Clerk’s Office should:

• Ensure that a proper inventory system is maintained to track blank certificates and marriage licenses.

• Develop a daily reconciliation to track the pre-printed numbers of the certificates and marriage licenses to ensure that all issued and voided documents can be accounted for since the Marriage License Bureau (MLB) system does not have the capability to record this information.

• Issue a written procedure requiring that the daily computer report be reconciled with the daily cash receipts before the cash is deposited in the bank. In addition, all discrepancies found during the reconciliation should have a written explanation and be approved by a supervisor.

• Limit the transaction override function to one or two supervisors within each unit and should not allow individuals to override their own transactions. In addition, it should modify the MLB system so that overrides are not needed for regularly performed transactions.

• Develop a log to record and track refunds to ensure that only authorized refund checks are processed and that all required refund checks are issued to the public. This log should include all necessary information to allow the transaction to be traced to the MLB system for verification.

City Clerk’s Office Response

In its response, City Clerk’s Office officials generally agreed with the audit’s findings and recommendations.