Audit Calls for Banking Security Improvements to Reduce Risk of Misappropriation.
Treasurer seeks to improve the tracking of money that passes through various City departments.
The City Treasurer’s office is in need of security internal control enhancements to safeguard the tens of thousands of dollars that passes through the city’s department’s daily, according to an internal audit report.
Without the security enhancements, deposits, which come from various city departments are at risk of misappropriation, the Sept. 6 audit stated. City Treasurer Rafi Manoukian, a former councilman who was recently elected as the City Treasurer last May, said he had asked for an audit of the department, which currently has about $372 million in its investment portfolio.
“In addition to the lack of proper security in the office, the audit also disclosed the need for an update of the treasurer’s cash-handling guidelines, that includes background checks of employees and a system to track who accesses computer accounts tied to financial records keeping, similar to hospitals patients computer records identifying any employee, date and time, who accessed patient’s records.
The audit determined that account access was not revoked in a timely manner after an employee separated from the department, and a log of employees who have accessed any of the systems that tracks cash was not maintained.
Without proper controls over record access, the city runs the risk of unauthorized use, and unauthorized access to the City’s confidential banking information, according to the audit. Also, the treasurer’s office had experienced reduced staffing, and significant turnover due to the City’s early retirement bonuses in 2012. Manoukian said, that the Treasurer’s office, as a result, needed to hire other employees who came from other City departments’, who lacked the training and a banking background. Manoukian said these employees are being currently being trained on the new programs recommended by the Glendale City Treasurer’s Office Operational Audit Report.
