HomeMy WebLinkAboutParks and Recreation ReceiptingCITY AUDITOR
Gary W. Nystul, CPA
gary.nystul@ci.bremerton.wa.us
June 26, 2009
Cecil McConnell, Mayor Pro Tempore
Members of the City Council
Roger Lubovich, City Attorney
Tel 360-473-5369
Fax 360-473-5080
345 6th Street, Suite 600
Bremerton, WA 98337
The City Auditor has completed a review of the Department of Parks and Recreation
Receipting Procedures and has issued the attached report. A few recommendations were
made.
The assistance provided by Jeff Elevado, Barbara Forbes, Lena D'Agostino, Lisa
Garland, and Holly Peterson is greatly appreciated.
Please contact me if you have any questions or would like further information.
Sincerely,
Gary W. Nystul
cc: Wyn Birkenthal, Director Parks and Recreation
Andy Parks, Director of Financial Services
R:\City Auditor\Parks Revenue\Transmittal.doc
PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT
RECEIPTING PROCEDURES
Purpose
The Office of the City Auditor reviews various phases of city operations. This review of
the receipting procedures used by the Department of Parks and Recreation was scheduled
on the 2009 work plan.
Scope
This is a review of the procedures used by the Parks and Recreation Department to record
revenues at their three sites: the Senior Center, Jarstad Aquatics Center, and the Sheridan
Park Office. Policies and procedures used in 2008 were included.
Statement of Auditing Standards
This performance audit was conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted
Government Auditing Standards, except Standard 3.50 requiring an external quality
control review. Those standards require that the auditor plan and perform the audit to
obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for findings and
conclusions based on audit objectives. The auditor believes that the evidence obtained
provides a reasonable basis for the findings and conclusions based on the audit
objectives.
Objective
The objective of this audit was to:
Review the daily revenue recording procedures to determine if adequate internal
control procedures are in place
Summary of the Results
The procedures used at the Jarstad Aquatics Center do not provide sufficient
detail for accountability of all daily revenue
Using a cash register would improve efficiency, accountability and customer
service at the Sheridan Park Office
A small change in procedure would allow the Sheridan Park office to properly
record donations
Background
The Parks and Recreation Department provides a number of recreation programs and
services to the citizens of Bremerton and the surrounding area. These programs include
swimming, swimming lessons, lifelong learning and recreational programs for seniors,
indoor playground, preschool classes, and gymnasiums for basketball, volleyball, and
pickle ball. It also coordinates use of baseball and softball fields, the pea patch program,
and recreation programs in the neighborhood parks.
Registration for park programs can be made in person at one of the park's facility offices
and in some cases by mail or telephone or they can also be done 24 hours a day via the
on-line web program. Registration can be paid by cash, check or credit card.
The web service company maintains the web site, processes credit card transactions,
receives payment from the credit card companies, and transmits payments biweekly to
the city. The software also keeps track of rosters for classes, produces standard daily
reports to reconcile sales and payments as well as providing reports to manage classes
and facilities.
The procedure for receipting and daily reconciling is different at each facility. At the
Senior Center, all transactions are recorded in the cash register. In addition, registrations
where a class roster is desired such as for trips or classes are also entered in the on-line
system. The cash register "Z" tape agrees with the daily deposit form.
At the Aquatics Center, a cash register is used for daily admissions, sales of merchandise
and sales of punch cards. Swimming lessons and other class revenues are recorded on the
on-line system. The daily cash reconciliation includes revenue from both the cash
register and the on-line system. However, daily deposit documents do not include the
cash register "Z" tape and the Finance Department is unable to provide any
accountability review of the daily activity.
At the Sheridan Park office the on-line system is used for class registrations, field
reservations, park shelter reservations, etc. Manual receipts are used for drop in
activities, sale of tennis court light tokens, and when the on-line system is down. The
daily cash reconciliation does not reconcile the sequence number of manual receipts.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. A cash register, together with some small changes in procedure, would improve
efficiency and accountability at the Sheridan Park office.
There are a number of small dollar transactions for which hand written receipts
are issued. These include the drop-in indoor playground, pickle ball, and etc.
These transactions are in the $2 to $3 range. Since it is not necessary to have a
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record of the participant's name, a manual receipt is not necessary. It was also
reported that in some instances receipts were written after the fact because the
customer needed to get to the classroom in a hurry. The present system is
inadequate because the sequence number of manual receipts is not listed and
reconciled on the daily deposit worksheet. The use of a cash register would speed
customers through the office, provide an adequate receipt and reduce the number
of manual receipt numbers to be accounted for.
The daily cash receipts report prepared by the software sometimes includes
internet transactions that occurred after the office was closed. The system reports
on a 24 hour calendar day rather than an eight hour work day. There are some
instances when internet transactions for Aquatics are included as receipts for
Sheridan Park. The use of a form to list these reconciling transactions would
improve tracking for the daily reconciliation. Such a form has been used at the
Aquatics Center.
The Interdepartmental Cash Transmittal form should reconcile all receipts issued.
The present form does not account for the receipt number sequence for internet
receipts or manual receipts. Both number sequences should be included on the
form to improve accountability.
2. The Jarstad Aquatics Center should make two changes in procedure to improve
accountability.
A copy of the cash register Z tape should be included with the daily deposit
reconciliation form since most daily entry fees are rung up only in the register.
This sales information is included in the daily deposit but there are no documents
to reconcile. For example, on two of the days that were included in our test
sample, the computer generated Daily Cash Report showed no sales, but $178.75
and $250.75 were deposited. There is no accountability without including cash
register sales data on the daily sale reconciliation form.
The Daily Cash Reconciliation form is an Excel worksheet. The practice has been
to type in the name of the employee preparing the form and the employee who
checked it. A better practice would be for the employees to sign or at least initial
the form.
3. A recent state audit reported that when donations were received a receipt was not
always written at the three cash receipting locations. A more accurate statement
would be that donations received at the Sheridan Park Office may not always have
been receipted properly.
Procedures have now been put in place to properly receipt donations.
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4. The Department of Financial Services should update City Financial Policy 1-10-03
Cashiers Change Fund.
The policy states that when manual receipts are used; the original receipt is
retained and transmitted to the Treasurer's Office. The proper procedure is for the
original receipt to be given to the person making the payment and the copy
retained. The policy should be updated to reflect the best practice.
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