Audit Objective 

Determine whether the Town of Coxsackie (Town) Supervisor maintained complete, accurate and timely accounting records and reports to allow the Town Board (Board) to effectively monitor and manage the Town’s financial operations and condition.

Key Findings 

The Supervisor did not maintain complete, accurate and timely accounting records and reports. The Supervisor’s failure to maintain complete and accurate records or adequately provide monthly reporting to the Board reduced transparency and prevented it from properly monitoring financial operations and increased the risk that unauthorized or inappropriate transactions could occur and go undetected.

• The Town’s accounting system was not properly set up and financial activity was not recorded using proper accounting procedures. Due to accounting errors, the Town’s fund balance accounts had errors totaling $833,153. For example, the general town-wide fund was understated by $337,470 and the highway part town fund was overstated by $363,081.
• The Supervisor filed an incorrect Annual Financial Report (AFR) and did not file the AFR on time.
• The Board did not audit the Supervisor’s records as required by New York State Town Law (Town Law) Section 123. The accounting errors and untimely filing may have been detected had the Board annually audited the Supervisor’s records.

Key Recommendations 

• Maintain proper financial records.
• File the AFR in a timely manner.
• Annually audit the Supervisor’s records.

Town officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated, or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.