19623
CITY OF BANGOR, MAINE
AUDITORS° COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Audit Scope
We have performed our examination in accordance with generally accepted audit-
ing standards and recommendations by the State Department of Audit of the State
of Maine and the National Committee on.Governmental Accounting of the Municipal
Finance Officers Association. Included as a part of this examination were the
following procedures:
1. Depository banks reported directly to us the cash funds on deposit
and the investments held in their custody as of December 31, 1962
which we reconciled to amounts shown on the books.
2. We corresponded directly with debtors, selected on a test basis
from subsidiary records, for confirmation of taxes and accounts
receivable outstanding as of the close of the year.
3. We obtained confirmation from paying agents of bond and note indebt-
edness outstanding as of December 31, 1962 and of principal and
interest payments on account of this indebtedness during 1962.
4. We reconciled the tax commitment to records maintained by the asses -
ors and confirmed revenues received from the State directly with the
appropriate agency.
Internal Control
We have reviewed the system of internal control surrounding the financial
and accounting functions of the City and found it to be generally adequate.
We offer the following suggestions for further improvement in internal con-
trol and accounting procedure.-
1.
rocedure:
1. Detailed listings of uncollected taxes should be reconciled to the
control accounts at regular intervals under the supervision of the
City Auditor. This suggestion has been made in prior years and we
feel that it is of sufficient importance to mention again. The
City Auditor has indicated to us that he will initiate this prac-
tice in the coming year.
2. The monthly reconciliation of,cash accounts maintained at the local
banks is currently performed by the City Treasurer. The assumption
of this function by the City Auditor would segregate the duties of
the various employees involved in the accounting for cash in sucha
way as to further strengthen internal control in this area.
3. All disbursement vouchers are approved for payment by the City Audi-
tor. Cancellation of the voucher, together with the related sup-
porting documents, in the presence of the City Auditor or under his
supervision would reduce the possibility of duplicate payments to
suppliers or others.
We would like to express our thanks to the officials and employees of the City of
Bangor for their cooperation and assistance during the course of our examination.