HomeMy WebLinkAbout1516-8 Notary fee recommendations 3-7-16Page 1 of 2 Internal Audit Report #15/16-8
March 7, 2016
Tom Anderson – County Administrator, Audit committee
cc: Erik Kropp, Sharon Ross, Bonnie Baker
At the request of the County Administrator, a brief internal audit was initiated to review the
handling of notary fees in County Administration.
The County as of July 1, 2015 instituted a $10 fee for notary services. Administration has a
couple of staff that are notaries and provide this service.
Findings and recommendations include:
1. It is not clear there is sufficient and routine oversight over notary fees collected and
deposited.
The notaries provide written receipts, maintain copies of their deposits in a separate file, as
well as make notations in their notary log of monies received. There does not appear to be
anyone reviewing these receipts to the deposits made.
Employers may not prohibit notaries from notarizing on their own time and off work
premises. This might result in activity in their notary logs that isn’t related to County
business. It is not currently clear how coordination (if it occurs) of personal and County
notary services should be handled. In addition, the notary can waive the fee.
It is recommended for a supervisor to periodically review and verify deposit activity
between the log, receipt book and the fund. This review should be documented.
It is recommended for the notary to indicate beside the service in their notary log the
receipt # associated with the County fee collected. (They do not need to keep a copy of
the deposit receipt).
2. County Administration’s notary fees are currently posted to the general fund.
It is more appropriate to deposit the miscellaneous fee revenue in the fund associated with
the funding of the salary for the individual notary. Administration’s staff providing notary
services are funded by Fund 625.
PO Box 6005, Bend, OR 97708-6005
1300 NW Wall St., Suite 200, Bend, OR 97701
(541) 330-4674 - Fax (541) 385-3202
David.Givans@Deschutes.org
www.deschutes.org
Deschutes County Internal Audit Program
David Givans, CPA, CIA, CGMA - County Internal Auditor
Page 2 of 2 Internal Audit Report #15/16-8
These notary fees are relatively minor in amount.
It is recommended the notary fees be deposited in the fund associated with the notary’s
salary (in this case, Fund 625).
MANAGEMENT RESPONSE:
Erik Kropp, Deputy County Administrator
Thank you for completing this audit on notary services and fees administered by staff in
Administrative Services. Since notarizing is a new added service for the office, the audit
provides an important review of the service to make sure proper internal controls are in place.
We concur with the audit recommendations.
Internal Audit objectives, scope, and methodology
The audit objectives were limited to reviewing notary fee collection controls for County
Administration. Audit procedures were limited to discussions with staff and tracing a couple of
notary service receipts through to deposits. Audit work was completed from January to
February 2016. The audit was performed at the request of the County Administrator and was
outside the audit workplan.
Audit findings result from incidents of non-compliance with stated procedures and/or
departures from prudent operation. The findings are, by nature, subjective. The audit disclosed
certain policies, procedures and practices that could be improved. The audit was neither
designed nor intended to be a detailed study of every relevant system, procedure or transaction.
Accordingly, the opportunities for improvement presented in the report may not be all-inclusive
of areas where improvement may be needed and does not replace efforts needed to design an
effective system of internal control. The findings noted were primarily compliance and
efficiency matters and would not generally be framed as or considered to be significant
deficiencies.
We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government
auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain
sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions
based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
(2011 Revision of Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States.)
Please take a survey on this report by clicking on the attached link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Notary_fees