Audit Objective
Did the Village of Brightwaters (Village) Board of Trustees (Board) adequately monitor the Village Clerk/Treasurer’s (Treasurer) financial duties and properly audit claims?
Audit Period
June 01, 2024 – August 31, 2025
Understanding the Audit Area
Effective board oversight of a clerk/treasurer’s financial duties and a thorough audit of claims help safeguard assets and ensure public funds are properly authorized, supported and used for legitimate purposes, while reducing the risk that errors, irregularities or fraud could occur and remain undetected.
During the audit period the Village made 997 nonpayroll disbursements totaling approximately $3.1 million from the general fund and made 122 bank transfers totaling approximately $9.2 million.
Audit Summary
The Board did not monitor the Treasurer’s financial duties or audit claims before payment. As a result, if not corrected, the Village has an increased risk that errors, unauthorized or inappropriate transactions and the misappropriation of Village funds could occur and remain undetected. In addition, the Village has an increased risk that goods and services may not be obtained at the lowest possible cost. Specifically:
- The Board did not segregate the Treasurer’s financial duties or implement compensating controls, such as reviewing the Treasurer’s work. Also, the Board did not review the Treasurer’s bank reconciliations to ensure that they were accurate and completed in a timely manner.
- The Mayor and Treasurer did not maintain control of their signature stamps and allowed other individuals to use their stamps to issue checks. In addition, the Treasurer allowed the Village Deputy Clerk (Deputy Clerk) to use her password to access the Treasurer’s financial software user account and print checks, which the Deputy Clerk signed using the Treasurer’s signature stamp. Sharing financial software user accounts and signature stamps increases the risk that unauthorized or inappropriate transactions could occur and the individual responsible for these actions might not be identified or held accountable.
- The Board did not audit each claim before payment and did not sign the claims or abstracts (list of claims) as required by the Village’s procurement policy (Village policy). Board members also did not ensure that each claim contained adequate supporting documentation, such as receipts and invoices, before approving them for payment.
We reviewed 183 nonpayroll disbursements totaling $1.3 million and determined that the Board did not audit 109 disbursements totaling $381,067 before they were paid. We also reviewed the 183 disbursements to determine whether they were adequately supported and identified:
- 29 claims totaling $72,557 did not have a claim voucher, an invoice or other supporting documentation.
- 22 claims totaling $81,504 did not have required quotes.
- Three claims totaling $9,730 improperly included $783 in sales tax.
The report includes nine recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Board’s oversight of the Treasurer’s financial duties and the claims audit process to help safeguard Village funds from errors, unauthorized or inappropriate transactions and misappropriation. Village officials agreed with our recommendations and indicated they will take corrective action.
This audit was conducted pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the Office of the New York State Comptroller’s (OSC’s) authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State (NYS) General Municipal Law (GML). The audit’s methodology and standards are included in Appendix C.
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 OSC within 90 days, pursuant to Section 35 GML. For more information on preparing and filing the CAP, please refer to the OSC brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which was provided with the draft audit report. The Board is encouraged to make the CAP available for public review in the Clerk-Treasurer’s office.