Audit Report on the Financial and Operating Practices of the 12 Bronx Community Boards
This audit determined whether the 12 Bronx Community Boards (the Boards) complied with applicable payroll, timekeeping, purchasing, and inventory procedures, as set forth in the Mayor’sOffice Community Assistance Unit Procedural Guidelines for Community Boards, the Office of Payroll Administration’s policies and procedures, the Procurement Policy Board (PPB) Rules, and the New York City Comptroller’s Internal Control and Accountability Directives (Comptroller’s Directives). The scope of this audit covered the period July 1, 2001, to June 30, 2002.
The audit found that the Boards generally adhered to the payroll, timekeeping, purchasing, and inventory requirements of the Procedural Guidelines for Community Boards, the Office of Payroll Administration’s policies and procedures, the PPB Rules, and the Comptroller’s Directives. Our examination of each Board’s Personal Services and Other Than Personal Services expenditures disclosed no instances in which money was improperly expended.
In addition, competitive bids were obtained by the Boards when applicable; sampled imprest fund purchases were supported by invoices and were for less than $250, in accordance with Comptroller’s Directive #3; salaries of Board employees were within the allowable salary ranges for their respective Civil Service titles; employees included in our sample were bona fide; new employees were properly authorized before being placed on payroll; and, separated employees were accurately paid.
However, there were instances in which the Boards did not comply with certain timekeeping, purchasing, and inventory procedures, as summarized in Table I.
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Employees did not always sign in or out when arriving to and departing from work. |
Boards 5, 10, and 11 |
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Work hours recorded on employee timesheets and the work hours recorded on the sign-in and sign-out log did not always match. |
Boards 4, 6, 10, and 11 |
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Requests for leave use or earning of compensatory time did not always contain evidence of supervisory authorization. |
Boards 5 and 10 |
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Certain employees were undercharged and overcharged sick and annual leave. |
Boards 1, 3, 7, and 9 |
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An employee was credited for more compensatory time than actually earned. |
Board 5 |
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One employee exceeded the number of undocumented sick leave instances allowed in a six-month period. |
Board 8 |
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Invoices were not always stamped "vouchered". |
Boards 2, 5, 10, and 11 |
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Imprest fund checks did not have the inscription "void after 90 days" imprinted on them. |
Board 11 |
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No invoice was on file to support $200 in payments made to an individual for cleaning services. |
Board 8 |
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Boards did not have complete inventory records. |
Boards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 12 |
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Equipment purchased as far back as June 1998 was never used. |
Board 1 |
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Poor record keeping and questionable expenses paid from a fund raising account. |
Board 2 |
We made 15 recommendations addressed to those Boards that had weaknesses found during the audit.