Collections & Enforcement Support Audit - Clerk Of Courts January 1, 2024 - December 31, 2024

An audit was conducted to provide a comprehensive examination of the Clerk’s Office controls related to revenue receipt, disbursement of funds, and billings.  The Clerk’s Office processes are generally well managed.  However, DIA noted non-compliance, internal control weaknesses and areas of potential process improvement related to: 

• Insufficient Accounting of Book Balance
• Lack of Review of Unapplied Funds 
• Lack of Billing Review for Closed Cases
• Lack of Regular Bank Reconciliations
• Lack of Documented Review of Cashier Voids
• Outdated Policies and Procedures
• Lack of Segregation of Duties and Tracking
• Lack of Periodic Counts of Stored Cash
• Lack of Cashier Adherence to Policies and Procedures
• Lack of Chain of Custody for Money.
   

DIA provided the Clerk of Courts management with recommendations for improving the Clerk’s Office processes. DIA recommendations are provided during fieldwork allowing the department opportunity to remedy identified issues in a timelier manner. Recommendations DIA made for the Clerk’s Office management included, but were not limited to: 

•  Develop system reports to support the recorded book balance.
•  Regular review and application of unapplied funds.
•  Regular documented review of closed cases for potential billings.
•  Performing monthly bank reconciliations.
•  Regular documented review of cashier voids.
•  Revise Policies and Procedures where needed.
•  Implement segregation of duties over daily reconciliations and consistently track differences between actual collections and
   system balances.
•  Document periodic counts of stored cash.
•  Document employee acknowledgement of cash/checks received and transfer of cash/checks between divisions.
•  Periodically review user access and attempt to enable password security to system.