Audit Objective
Did the Taberg Volunteer Fire Company (Company) Board of Directors (Board) and Treasurers ensure financial activities were properly recorded and reported and funds were safeguarded?
Audit Period
January 1, 2024 – August 26, 2025
Understanding the Audit Area
A fire company treasurer must maintain complete, accurate and up-to-date financial records and reports for informed decision-making, legal compliance and accountability, and to help reduce the risk of theft, waste and abuse of fire company resources. These records are essential for the fire company board and officials when monitoring a fire company’s financial health and maintaining membership trust.
Three individuals served as Treasurer during the audit period. The current Treasurer was elected to the position in April 2025. From January 1, 2024, through March 31, 2025, the Treasurers deposited approximately $682,000 and disbursed approximately $354,000.
Audit Summary
The Board and Treasurers did not ensure financial activities were properly recorded and reported and funds were safeguarded. Because the Treasurers did not maintain adequate financial records or provide written financial reports to the Board, the Board and membership lacked the information to effectively oversee the Company’s financial activities. In addition, weaknesses in recordkeeping and controls over cash collections and disbursements prevented the Board from ensuring that all collections were deposited and that payments were made only for valid Company purposes. As a result, the Company faced an increased risk of theft, waste and abuse of Company resources.
Specifically, we determined the following:
- The Treasurers did not maintain adequate financial records to properly account for the Company’s revenues, expenses and cash balances for the Company’s nine bank accounts. As of March 31, 2025, the Company’s bank account balances totaled approximately $520,000.
- The Treasurers did not reconcile the Company’s bank accounts, and the Board did not review the bank statements and canceled check images to provide adequate oversight of the Treasurers’ financial duties. This oversight is particularly important because the Treasurers performed nearly all Company financial duties, including receiving and depositing funds, issuing checks and maintaining the records.
- The Company’s budgets did not include all financial activities, and the Board did not receive budget-to-actual reports to monitor financial activity or compare actual revenues and expenses to budgeted amounts.
- Officials did not maintain adequate records to document collections and related deposits. We determined that deposits exceeded documented collections by about $18,000.
- The Board authorized the Treasurers to pay bills at monthly meetings but did not review supporting claims or documentation. We determined that 73 payments totaling $79,416 had one or more exceptions (e.g., inadequate supporting documentation and transactions not properly recorded).
The report includes 14 recommendations that, if implemented, will improve controls over the Company’s financial activities. Company officials generally agreed with our findings and indicated they plan to initiate corrective action.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the State Comptroller’s authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State General Municipal Law. Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix C.
The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. We encourage the Board to prepare a written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the recommendations in this report and forward it to our office within 90 days. For more information on preparing and filing your CAP, please refer to our brochure, Responding to an OCS Audit Report, which you received with the draft audit report. We encourage the Board to make the CAP available for public review.