Are you always losing valuable items? Do you misplace important paperwork?
Don’t worry, you can’t be nearly as bad as the Philadelphia Division of Technology.
Yesterday, City Controller Alan Butkovitz released an audit of the Department from FY07-09 and found that it inspected only about 10 percent of its $4.8 million information technology assets. Auditors randomly selected 13 personal property items but could not locate five of them. That’s 38 percent of the computer-related items, which are valued at $11,000.
“This is clear evidence that property can go missing when it’s not properly accounted for,” said Butkovitz. “The Department needs to implement procedures to ensure that annual inspections of all items in its custody are performed in accordance with city regulations.
To make matters worse, the audit found that the Department couldn’t produce any evidence that franchise fees were properly document in the city’s accounting system. Cable service providers are required to remit 5 percent of their annual gross revenues as franchise fees. Officials told the Controller that they only perform a “cursory review” of audited statements but maintain no documentation.
“The Department needs to reconcile the franchise fees deposited with the Revenue Department with the figures reported in the City’s primary accounting system,” Butkovitz said. “This will ensure that the city is collecting every dollar it’s owed.”
It’s simply amazing to me that government entities have no formal, strict standards when it comes to reporting financial documents. This is the government, right? Aren’t they known for being paper pushers?
It’s especially disturbing that the city could be missing out on thousands, or millions, of dollars in potential revenue, just for the simple fact that they have no efficient reporting system in place. That’s pathetic, particularly at a time when the city says it’s in dire financial shape.
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