Audit Report on the Financial and Operating Practices of the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office

This audit determined whether the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office (District Attorney’s Office) is complying with certain payroll, personnel, timekeeping, purchasing, and inventory procedures, as set forth in the New York City Comptroller’s Internal Control and Accountability Directives (Comptroller’s Directives) 13, 24, and 25, Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) personnel rules and leave regulations, the Richmond County District Attorney Manual, and the Procurement Policy Board (PPB) rules.

Audit Findings and Conclusions

The audit found that the District Attorney’s Office adhered to several aspects of Comptroller’s Directives 13, 24, and 25. In addition, our examination of the District Attorney’s Office’s OTPS expenditures disclosed no instances in which moneys were improperly used. However, the District Attorney’s Office did not comply with certain aspects of DCAS personnel and leave regulations, the Richmond County District Attorney Manual, and many aspects of Comptroller’s Directives 13 and 24. Specifically, the District Attorney’s Office did not always ensure that: timekeeping records were complete, accurate, and properly approved; employees exhausted their leave balances before they were approved for sick leave grants; separated employees were accurately paid; employees’ salaries were within the salary ranges of their Career and Salary Plan titles; employees used compensatory time within the 120-day limit; City regulations for sick leave were enforced; employees’ leave balances were within the amounts allowable under City Time and Leave Regulations; voucher packages were stamped “vouchered” as required by Comptroller’s Directive 24; voucher packages were charged to correct object codes; and inventory records were complete and accurate. In addition, the District Attorney’s Office issued one time payments to employees without supporting documentation justifying the payments, and made a questionable payment to the former District Attorney.

Audit Recommendations

To address these issues, we make 24 recommendations, including that the District Attorney’s Office:

• Ensure that employee timekeeping transactions are carefully reviewed so that timekeeping errors are avoided.
• Ensure that its managerial employee submits timesheets that indicate arrival and departure times. These timesheets should be reviewed and approved by an appropriate agency official.
• Discontinue granting paid leave time to employees before their accumulated sick and annual leave balances have been exhausted.
• Attempt to recoup the separation pay that was overpaid to its employees.
• Transfer employees whose salaries currently are not within the ranges of their titles into other titles for which they qualify and that have salary ranges that encompass their current pay levels, or should appropriately adjust their salaries.
• Ensure that complete and accurate inventory records are maintained.
• Establish formal procedures for issuing one-time payments to its staff. The procedures should require that employee personnel files contain memos or other documentation justifying one-time payments.