State Auditor Mike Harmon has released the audit of the 2021 financial statement of Clinton County Clerk Nathan Collins. State law requires the auditor to conduct annual audits of county clerks and sheriffs.

Auditing standards require the auditor’s letter to communicate whether the financial statement presents fairly the receipts, disbursements and excess fees of the Clinton County Clerk in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The clerk’s financial statement did not follow this format. However, the clerk’s financial statement is fairly presented in conformity with the regulatory basis of accounting, which is an acceptable reporting methodology. This reporting methodology is followed for all 120 clerk audits in Kentucky.

As part of the audit process, the auditor must comment on noncompliance with laws, regulations, contracts, and grants. The auditor must also comment on material weaknesses involving the internal control over financial operations and reporting.

The audit contains the following comment:

The Clinton County Clerk’s Office does not have adequate segregation of duties: This is a repeat finding and was included in the prior year audit report Finding 2020-001. The county clerk’s office does not have adequate segregation of duties over the accounting and reporting functions of the clerk’s office. The county clerk’s bookkeeper is responsible for receiving cash, preparing daily deposits, preparing, signing checks, posting to receipts and disbursements ledgers, preparing monthly bank reconciliations, and also comparing the weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports to the ledgers.

According to the county clerk the condition is a result of a limited budget, which restricted the number of employees he can hire or delegate duties to. A lack of segregation of incompatible duties or strong oversight increases the risk that errors could occur and not be detected. A proper segregation of duties over the accounting and reporting functions such as preparation of the quarterly reports or implementing compensating controls, when necessary because of a limited number of staff, is essential for providing protection from undetected errors occurring. Additionally, a proper segregation of duties protects employees in the normal course of performing their daily responsibilities.

We recommend the Clinton County Clerk separate the duties involved in receiving cash, preparing deposits, writing checks, posting to ledgers, preparing monthly bank reconciliations, and comparing financial reports to ledgers. If due to a limited budget, this is not feasible, cross-checking procedures could be implemented and documented by the individual performing the procedure.

County Clerk’s Response: The official did not provide a response.

The county clerk’s responsibilities include collecting certain taxes, issuing licenses, maintaining county records and providing other services. The clerk’s office is funded through statutory fees collected in conjunction with these duties.

The audit report can be found on the auditor’s website.

(Note: State audits are performed annually on the offices of local counties, county clerks, and sheriffs. In the most recent year audits in Clinton County in relation to those offices, Clinton County Fiscal Court received a “perfect” audit with no deficiency, even in internal controls being found, and both the Clinton County Sheriff and Clinton County Clerk had only one deficiency, that in lack of “segregation of duties,” which is a routine finding in the majority of audits performed statewide.)