Audit Objective
Did the Wrights Corners Fire Company, Inc. (Company) Treasurer (Treasurer) maintain complete financial records in a timely manner?
Audit Period
January 1, 2024 – January 9, 2026
Understanding the Audit Area
A fire company’s treasurer should maintain complete financial records in a timely manner to enable informed decision-making by a fire company board, prevent fraud and misappropriation of funds, comply with reporting requirements and maintain public trust. Complete and timely records are essential for establishing financial accountability and proper financial management, oversight by a fire company board and membership, and the protection of public funds.
The Company’s budgeted revenues totaled $624,654 for fiscal year 2025.
Audit Summary
The Treasurer did not maintain complete financial records and record all financial transactions in a timely manner. The Treasurer did not record financial activity with sufficient detail, including the source of the deposits and the purpose of disbursements, and did not prepare and submit accurate financial reports, bank reconciliations and budget status reports to the Company Executive Board (Board) monthly. In addition, more than $1.1 million in checks were recorded in the accounting records, on average, 59 days after receipt. As a result, the Company’s financial records were incomplete and necessary reports were not developed and submitted in a timely manner, increasing the risk that improper or unauthorized activity could occur without detection or correction.
Although our testing did not identify any improper or unauthorized activity, the Treasurer’s inadequate recordkeeping prevented the Board from obtaining sufficient information to effectively oversee the Company’s financial operations, make informed decisions and fulfill reporting requirements. If the Board had prepared the annual director’s report to members and ensured that an independent auditor annually audited the Treasurer’s records, officials could have identified and corrected the omissions and discrepancies we identified.
Specifically, the Treasurer did not:
- Maintain complete accounting records with sufficient detail such as the source of 100 deposits totaling $369,012 and purpose of 123 disbursements totaling $108,312 in a timely manner.
- Prepare and submit accurate bank reconciliations and budget status reports to the Board monthly.
- File accurate and timely federal tax forms, which subjected the Company to potential fines totaling $24,660. Failure to file the forms could jeopardize the Company’s tax-exempt status.
The report includes eight recommendations that, if implemented, would improve the Treasurer’s records and reports. Company officials generally agreed with our recommendations and their response is included in Appendix B.
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 OSC Audit Report, which you received with the draft audit report. We encourage the Board to make the CAP available for public review.