Village of ElizabethState Government

Segregation of Duties. Criteria: An important aspect of any good system of internal accounting control includes adequate segregation of duties so that no one individual handles a transaction from its inception to its completion. Condition: Adequate segregation of duties is lacking in the current system of internal accounting control. Cause: The administration of the Village of Elizabeth is not large enough to permit an adequate segregation of duties in all respects for an effective system of internal accounting control. Effect: The existence of this material weakness has the potential for misstatement of financial statement amounts and those amounts may be material. The potential also exists for the misappropriation of assets. Recommendation: This situation dictates that the board of trustees remain involved in the financial affairs of the Village by providing oversight and independent review functions. Response: The Village board of trustees will continue to provide additional oversight by making the budget committee a permanent standing committee that will meet quarterly to go over finances presented to them by the clerk and treasurer. Additionally, the budget committee will continue to go over line items of the budget comparison looking for incorrect entries. Conclusion: Response accepted.

Financial Statement Preparation and Disclosures Criteria: A deficiency in internal control over financial reporting exists when the design or operation of a control does not allow management or employees, in the normal course of performing their assigned functions, to prevent, or detect and correct, misstatements of the financial statements on a timely basis. Properly designed policies and procedures and implementation of the policies and procedures are an integral part of ensuring the reliability and accuracy of the Village's financial statements. Condition: Accounting personnel do not prepare financial statements m accordance with the modified cash basis of accounting. Cause: The Village's management presently lacks the qualifications and training to appropriately fulfill these responsibilities, which is a common situation in small governmental entities. Effect: Financial statement misstatements or disclosure omissions may exist and would not be detected and corrected by management in a timely manner. Recommendation: Obtaining additional modified cash basis knowledge through reading relevant accounting literature and attending local professional education courses should help management significantly improve in their ability to prepare and take responsibility for reliable modified cash basis financial statements. Response: The Village will review the recommendations and, additionally, will look for classes/ courses offered by institutions to receive more training. Conclusion: Response accepted.

Adjusting Journal Entries Criteria: The performance of the necessary procedures involved with financial reporting and accounting issues are an important component of the entity's reporting structure. Condition: The Village's performance of these procedures appears to be lacking oversight procedures. Cause: Oversight procedures performed would mitigate the likelihood of material misstatements occurring within the financial reporting environment. Effect: The existence of this material weakness has the potential for misstatement of financial statement amounts and those amounts may be material. As a result of audit procedures performed, certain suggested adjusting journal entries were proposed to the Village for your approval. We suggested a total of ten adjustments to the various funds. A listing of significant suggested entries is as follows: Recording of Depreciation in Enterprise Funds • Record current year depreciation in water and sewer funds. Recording Debt Payment in Enterprise Funds • Reclassify amounts from principal expense account to liability account in the enterprise funds. The remaining suggested adjusting journal entries were not considered significant and, therefore, were not listed above. Recommendation: This situation dictates that the board of trustees remain involved in the financial affairs of the Village of Elizabeth by providing oversight and independent review of financial reporting and accounting procedures. Response: The Village board of trustees will continue to provide additional oversight by making the budget committee a permanent standing committee that will meet quarterly to go over finances presented to them by the clerk and treasurer. Additionally, the budget committee will continue to go over line items of the budget comparison looking for incorrect entries. Conclusion: Response accepted. Criteria: Special revenue funds should not be used to record capital projects. Condition: The Village recorded a capital project in the Parks Fund (special revenue). Cause: The Village utilized an existing fund to record the capital project. Effect: The existence of this material weakness has the potential for misstatement of financial statement amounts and those amounts may be material. Recommendation: The Village utilize capital project funds for future capital projects related to governmental activities. Response: The Village will refrain from using special revenue funds for capital projects in future years. Conclusion: Response accepted.

Criteria: 2CFR section 200.512(a) requires the reporting package and data collection form to be submitted to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse the earlier of 30 calendar days after the reports are received from the auditor or nine months after the end of the audit period. Condition: The April 30, 2022 single audit reporting package and data collection form was filed more than nine months after the fiscal year-end. Cause: The Organization's audit for the April 30, 2022 fiscal year was not completed in time to meet the reporting deadline. Effect: Late filing of the reporting package and data collection form. Questioned Costs: $0 Repeat Finding?: No Recommendation: We recommend the Village of Elizabeth file future single audit reporting packages and data collection forms within 30 days of audit issuance or 9 months after year-end as required. View o{Responsible Officials: The Village of Elizabeth agrees with this finding.