Office of the Chief Financial Officer
Executive Summary for Closed Reports

Original Report

Report No. IA:OFT:2904-C06: Final Report on Review of OFT’s Cashiering Operations and Related Activities of the Recorder of Deeds (ROD) for the period October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2008, dated December 8, 2009.

Current Status

Closed.

Chief Risk Officer’s Risk Assessment

The Inherent Risk associated with the collections of monies across the District is classified as High risk.    Therefore, particular attention is paid all recommendations from OIO.
 
Overview of Recommendations

OIO offered twenty-three recommendations and all twenty-three were implemented to further strengthen existing internal controls.

• ROD and OFT revised and streamlined the check delivery process between the examiners and OFT cashiering.  It is OFT's policy to process the bulk check work delivered within 48 hours of receipt.  All cash receipts are handled directly by OFT cashiers.
• ROD has developed strict policies on timely reconciliation of checks at the end of each business day.  ROD submits checks to OFT on daily basis within one to two business days from reconciliation day.  The process is the same for checks received by mail.  Mailed in checks are processed within two business days from the day the mail is logged in.
• ROD performs monthly reconciliations of credit card transactions to SOAR, the District’s General Ledger system.
• ROD has established a process to work with Landata Systems, Inc. to ensure prompt identification of reconciling items for bank statement reconciliations.
• Overages and Shortages are accounted for daily, at settlement, by the cashier supervisor completing a 1502 to post the difference to SOAR and scanning the documentation to the Lead Cashier to prepare a quarterly report for OFT management.
• Overages and shortages are addressed through administrative action, as outlined in the OFT policy document..
• OFT and ROD reviewed the escrow accounts and found no benefit to continue their existence.  ROD closed these accounts. Positive balances were refunded, and negative balances generated bills.  (This resolved three additional recommendations as they were about developing policies and procedures for, reporting of, and reconciling escrow accounts, which are no longer being used).
• Hand delivery of refund checks is no longer permitted.
• All checks are mailed directly to the payee.
• OFT cashiering and ROD examiner functions have been clearly delineated and separated.  OFT cashiers no longer perform the duties of an ROD examiner nor post any transactions or funds to the ROD system of record.
• OFT's and ROD's policies and procedures have been updated and revised to reflect the ROD and cashiering roles and responsibility changes.
• New procedures were made available, and required training was provided to the ROD examiners by OFT.
• All escrow accounts have been closed; therefore, the recommendation does not apply.  (This resolved two recommendations regarding reconciliation of escrow accounts and SOAR accounting).
• OFT has revised its cashiering procedures to include oversight and clarity of operational duties.
• OFT has revised its cashiering procedures as it pertains to ROD and the separation of the examiner function from OFT cashier duties.
• ROD has updated its policies and procedures over all of its operations and made them available to staff.
• ROD has cross-trained its staff to perform examiner and cashier functions. This allows for a smooth examination process and cashiering process, with no backlogs of documents and/or checks.
• ROD has developed comprehensive policies and procedures for each department, which also serves as training material for new employees.
• All escrow accounts have been closed; therefore, there is no running balance between Escrow Accounts and General Ledger.

To view the full report, click Review of OFT's Cashiering Operations and Related Activities of ROD.