Audit Objective
Did the Board of Trustees (Board) provide adequate oversight of the Howard Public Library's (Library) financial operations?
Audit Period
January 1, 2024 – January 13, 2026
We extended the audit period back to January 1, 2017, to review Annual Financial Report (AFR) submissions.
Understanding the Audit Area
A library board is responsible for the general management and control of the financial operations and should provide adequate oversight of the financial activities to ensure funds are managed with accountability, transparency and integrity. This critical function can help maintain public trust, ensure legal compliance and prevent mismanagement, waste and fraud.
From January 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, deposited collections totaled $82,953 and disbursements totaled $59,420.
Audit Summary
The Board did not provide adequate oversight of the library’s financial operations. As a result, the Board lacked the necessary financial information to manage the library’s financial condition and could not ensure the library’s financial activities were adequately accounted for, recorded and reported. Therefore, the Library had an increased risk of budgetary issues and services impact, as well as an increased risk of theft, waste and abuse of Library resources.
Specifically, the Board did not:
- Ensure the Library’s bylaws included detailed provisions for financial operations or adopt adequate supplemental written policies and procedures for financial operations. As a result, the Treasurer and Library Manager lacked adequate guidance when performing financial operations and for recording and reporting financial transactions, and certain responsibilities were not adequately segregated. This results in an increased risk of theft, waste and abuse of the library’s resources.
- Audit claims for all 140 non-payroll disbursements totaling $28,520 from January 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. Without an adequate review of all supporting documentation for disbursements before approval and payment, the Board cannot ensure that all disbursements were for proper Library purposes before the disbursements were made.
- Require employees to prepare time records for hours worked or ensure a detailed independent payroll review of the 1,854 hours worked totaling $28,611 paid to three employees from January 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. As a result, the Board was unable to determine whether employees were accurately paid for actual time worked.
- Ensure the Treasurer maintained and prepared adequate financial records and reports. As a result, the Board lacked the necessary financial information to manage the library’s financial condition.
- Review bank statements or canceled check images or ensure the Treasurer prepared monthly bank reconciliations. As a result, officials did not ensure the accuracy and integrity of the library’s financial records, which helps prevent and detect fraud. Regularly reviewing the statements and images also helps identify discrepancies between the bank statements and accounting records, ensuring all transactions are properly accounted for.
- Ensure the Treasurer filed the AFR for eight fiscal years (2017 through 2024), as required by New York State General Municipal Law (GML) Section 30.1 When AFRs are not filed, transparency is reduced and the Board and other interested parties do not have information on the library’s financial condition and financial concerns may go unnoticed or unaddressed.
- Conduct an annual audit of the library’s financial records. Due to the lack of review of financial records and reports, the Treasurer maintained inaccurate, incomplete and inadequate records and reports and discrepancies were not identified.
The Board’s lack of oversight resulted in variances in the financial records and reports that were not identified or corrected during the audit period.
The report includes 11 recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Board’s oversight of financial operations. Library officials agreed with our recommendations but disagreed with certain aspects of the report and their response is included in Appendix B. Our comments on the library’s response are included in Appendix C.
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 D.
The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. A written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report should be prepared and provided to our office within 90 days, pursuant to Section 35 of the New York State General Municipal Law. 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 in the library’s office.
1 OSC’s website provides more information on AFR nonflier’s and the library’s current AFR filing status at: https://web.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/afr-non-filers/.