ALBANY - State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office completed audit of the City of Syracuse and Hoosick Falls Central School District


City of Syracuse – Internal Controls Over Time and Attendance of the Citizen Review Board (Onondaga)
The city’s system of time and attendance controls over the Citizen Review Board (CRB) office employees is not adequately designed or operating effectively. Auditors found that the Board’s administrator spent a significant amount of time conducting private legal work during the city’s normal business hours. The administrator, possibly with the knowledge and consent of the CRB’s chairman and vice chair, used city computers in the conduct of her private law practice, despite the city having adopted a formal computer use policy to help prevent use of public property for private purposes. The CRB Administrator did not maintain adequate time records on file, did not ensure that the central timekeeping system was kept up-to-date, and did not approve the clerk’s timesheets or certify payrolls in a timely manner.

Hoosick Falls Central School District – Electronic Funds Transfers (Rensselaer and Washington Counties)
The treasurer initiates each electronic fund transfer, receives the confirmation, records the transaction into the general ledger by hand and at the end of each month makes general journal entries in the financial management system with the monthly totals. Although the audit found no improprieties, when one person performs all functions within the electronic fund transfer process without adequate supervision, it increases the risk that cash may be disbursed improperly and that such disbursements may be concealed without detection.