2013-09-19 Audit Committee Minutes

Home Browse Search

w � „�;ING. Mr{SS• Audit Committee Meeting 9 A 9` September 19, 2013 The meeting convened at 7:35 p.m. in the Town Hall Conference Room, 16 Lowell Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Barry Berman and Audit Committee members Paul McNeice, Phil B. Pacino and Stephen Herrick. Also present were Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom as well as Ed Boyd and Scott McIntire, from Melanson Heath. Barry Berman called the meeting to order, he started the discussion with the first agenda item of approving the February 21, 2013 minutes. There was some discussion if the minutes could be approved as only two members that were present the night of the meeting were in attendance. Herrick made a motion to accept the minutes which was seconded by Pacino, two members voted to accept the minutes and two abstained from voting. Thus the minutes will be presented for vote again at the next audit committee meeting. Berman then instructed McIntire to start the discussion on the next agenda item involving selecting areas of specific audit emphasis. McIntire began by stating that the FY13 audit is very much underway as the town has already presented the majority of the items on the audit request list. Audit field work is scheduled to begin on Monday. McIntire explained that receipts are typically the primary area of focus when selecting departments/areas to test because they have the greatest risk for loss. The committee was instructed to review the provided listing of departmental testing that had been done over the last several years. Berman inquired of McIntire what areas he would recommend. McIntire stated school lunch and recreation have not been tested in the last two years thus he would recommend them for this year's testing. Berman stated he felt recreation was a good area to Iook at as he felt receipts are received in this area in a variety of different ways. McIntire agreed and stated that it is likely there is some cash collected as well as checks. Herrick stated he felt school lunch seems like another good area of focus because our school lunch card program was put in place to reduce the risk of loss and it would be nice to see how things are going. The committee continued to review the other areas listed and Boyd noted that Treasurer /Collector is not listed as this area is tested every year due to the volume of receipts. Berman inquired if people actually pay their taxes in cash? Angstrom replied that it is more common than you would imagine for people to come in and pay tax, water, sewer, and excise bills in cash. Berman stated that he believed the compost stickers sold by the police department are cash only. He felt this was odd and inquired if the audit committee has the right to recommend that checks only be taken for these purchases. McIntire stated that this was an area that was looked at in the FYI audit and that it is much more likely that a person would have cash, debit card or credit card on them than