Southtowns Record

West Seneca Central School District - Community Education (2019M-241)

Government
West Seneca Central School District
Posted by publisher
Mar 6, 2020
Kind
State audit
Topics
Audits and oversight

Publisher's summary

District officials did not review or reconcile electronic payments with cash receipts records to verify that all amounts were collected and remitted to the District. As a result, the District did not initially receive more than $5,500 in fees recorded as collected but not remitted by a vendor in January 2019. In November 2019, the vendor agreed to fully reimburse the District for lost revenue. In addition, the Board did not adopt written enforcement policies for overdue accounts and the Coordinator did not ensure overdue accounts were invoiced in a timely manner. We reviewed an accounts receivable aging report for the before and after school program and identified 75 accounts with outstanding balances totaling almost $28,000 as of August 13, 2019.

Original document

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collection on overdue accounts and parents would often only pay if they needed
to use the program again. The 43 accounts that were not invoiced are as follows:
  ll Seventeen accounts with balances totaling $17,000 were not invoiced
  because the District was waiting on payments from the New York State
  Department of Social Services or other agencies for students living in foster
  homes or for students whose parents qualified for State provided day care
  assistance payments.
  ll Thirteen accounts with balances totaling $2,700 were not invoiced because
  Department personnel do not use the accounts receivable report when
  determining which accounts to invoice; they generate weekly invoices by
  reviewing individual accounts and selecting accounts to invoice and these
  accounts were just missed. We followed up on the 13 missed accounts in
  November 2019 and found that the accounts were invoiced and the parents
  subsequently paid.
  ll Two accounts with balances totaling almost $2,200 were on payment plans
  approved by the Coordinator. However, the payment plan arrangements
  were not approved by the Board and there was no evidence any other
  District official had approved the payment arrangements. Further, the
  payment plan arrangements had not effectively reduced the unpaid balances
  because the students were allowed to continue participating in the program
  despite not paying all fees due. By November 2019, the balances due
  had increased to approximately $2,400. Even though the account holders
  had been making some small payments, the payments were not sufficient
  enough to cover both the overdue amounts and the current fees incurred for
  ongoing services provided.
  ll Eight accounts with balances totaling $1,800 were not invoiced because
  Department personnel had been unable to make contact with the customers
  in the past and deemed the accounts uncollectable.
  ll Three accounts with balances totaling $200 were entered into the system
  under a child’s name instead of a parent’s name and therefore would not be
  invoiced. The Coordinator told us when this type of error occurs, no invoices
  are generated.

Adequate enforcement procedures are essential for ensuring program fees are
collected in a timely manner and act as a deterrent against non-payment. By
not consistently pursuing the collection of unpaids and by writing off uncollected
charges without Board approval, the District may not have received all of the
revenue possible for the program.

4  Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller