Audit Objective
Did the Caneadea Fire District (District) Secretary/Treasurer (Treasurer) record and report financial transactions in a timely and accurate manner?
Audit Period
January 1, 2023 – June 30, 2025
Understanding the Audit Area
A fire district’s treasurer should record and report financial transactions in a timely and accurate manner to enable informed decision-making by the board of fire commissioners, prevent fraud or misappropriation of funds, comply with reporting requirements and maintain public trust. Accurate and timely records are essential for establishing financial accountability and proper financial management, oversight by the board of fire commissioners and taxpayers, and the protection of public funds.
The District’s average annual budgeted appropriations for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 fiscal years was $206,086.
Audit Summary
The Treasurer did not record and report all financial transactions in a timely and accurate manner. As a result, adequate financial records were not maintained and there was an increased risk that improper or unauthorized activity could have occurred without detection or correction. Although our testing did not identify any improper or unauthorized activity, the Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) did not have sufficient information to effectively oversee the District’s financial operations and make informed decisions because financial records and reports were incomplete and inaccurate. If the Board had performed an effective annual audit of the Treasurer’s records, the errors and omissions we identified might have been detected and corrected.
Specifically, the Treasurer did not:
- Maintain a complete and accurate checkbook register (register) with sufficient detail such as transaction dates, types or descriptions.
- Always prepare and submit accurate bank reconciliations to the Board.
The report includes four recommendations that, if implemented, would improve the Treasurer’s records and reporting. District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and their response is included in Appendix B. Appendix C includes our comment on an issue raised in the District’s response letter.
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 New York State General Municipal Law. Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix D.
The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. Pursuant to Section 181-b of New York State Town Law (Town Law), a written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report must be prepared and forwarded to our office within 90 days. To the extent practicable, implementation of the CAP must begin by the end of the next fiscal year. 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.