Monterey Will Implement Better Practices After Audit Findings

Town of Monterey facing multiple audit findings after the financial team found too many end-of-year journal entries to reconcile.

According to the Comptroller’s Report, this can lead to undetected errors when accounts do not match up. CMFO and Office Manager Ella Dishman said an example would be putting line items in the wrong accounts and having to go back and adjust them.

“This has been going on for a while and I just have to get with the auditor,” Dishman said. “And we are going to sit down and go over the things that I can do to fix these problems so they’re not continuing.”

The comptroller recommended adjusting the journal entries monthly to avoid having too many at the end of the year. Dishman said she is confident that the finding will be resolved once better practices are implemented.

Findings also include an inadequate separation of duties, citing only two employees to handle the financials. The comptroller’s office said this increases the possibility of fraud or misappropriations.

“We agree that the staff size will not allow the Town to segregate duties,” The Town’s response said. “There are only two employees working in the accounting/finance department so it is not possible to segregate duties unless more staff were hired. At the present time we do believe this would not benefit the Town to hire additional employees.”