Findings: Bank Statements were not accurately reconciled with the

General Ledger

Response:

The Register of Deeds Office has reputably balanced each month and paid revenues and fees over to the State of TN Department of Revenue and the Trustee of the County, since, September, 2014, without ever a question in prior audits of balancing procedures.

The Office has taken great pride in accuracy.

On the Friday, September, 2022, the last day of the month, the recording efiles of the day did not get verified in order to pay over to the bank that night. The efiles were verified on the next business day, Monday, October 3rd, 2022, which resulted in the efile transactions paying over a day later and the Bank Statement to the General Ledger not being in balance for that month. Upon contacting our Software Management Company I was made aware they were in a merger with another larger company, which resulted in slower reactions to get all corrected. At this time I reached out to the Comptroller Auditor, who had just completed Audit Year 2022 for advice. He stated it didn’t matter which way I handled it there would be audit findings and he did not want to make a recommendation on how to carry forward. All would not have become an issue if it had been any other day but the last day of the month. The corrections entailed the Software Company doing manual transfer/adjustments within their system to move the efiles to the correct posting date. This correction, inadvertently, took multiple months to get completed. As in normal month to month processing there were 3-4 other transfer adjustments the Software Management Company handled. The corrections/adjustments could only be completed by the Software Management Company and they were challenged with a company conversion along with accounting staff members changing. The Bank Statements were balanced each and every month, by the Chief Deputy of the Office and reviewed and accepted by myself to go forward and pay with the balanced collections to the TN Department of Revenue and the County Trustee. As of, December, 2022 the Software Management Company completed the general ledger posts which resulted in each month being in balance with the bank statements and the funds payed out. I have just completed reviewing every month of the 2022/2023 fiscal year being from July 1st, 2022 to June 30, 2023, confirming all is correct on each Month Reconciled during that time period. Upon the Comptroller’s Representative request we are now additionally using a recommended Excel Balancing Sheet, created by the Representative that provides a more quick review of each month.

It is unfortunate how things can be interpreted. We will continue to be transparent, diligent, and striving for the citizens of Coffee County to have an accountable office. Everyone is invited to come by anytime to take a tour and review the Monthly Balancing Files.

I am honored to serve Coffee County!

Respectfully,

Donna Toney

Coffee County Register of Deeds