Second Follow-up: An Audit of Key Controls at the Solid Waste Management Facility

AUDITOR’S LETTER

JANUARY 2025

In keeping with generally accepted government auditing standards and Auditor’s Office policy, as authorized by Utah Code Title 17, Chapter 19a, “County Auditor,” Part 2, “Powers and Duties.”, we have a responsibility to monitor and follow up on audit recommendations to ensure county agencies address audit findings through appropriate corrective action and to aid us in planning future audits.

This letter serves as the final follow-up audit report for An Audit of Key Controls at Solid Waste Management Facility. The original audit report was issued in July 2019, followed by a preliminary follow-up report in June 2022. The original audit report identified nine findings with 10 recommendations. In the preliminary follow-up, Solid Waste management implemented four of the 10 recommendations, three were in progress, one was not implemented and two were closed.

We appreciate the significant progress made by Solid Waste management in addressing the recommendations. As of this final follow-up, seven of the 10 recommendations have been fully implemented, and two have been closed.

However, during this final follow-up, we found that one recommendation has not been implemented. The outstanding recommendation involves improving internal controls for oversight of cash overages and shortages. Specifically, cashiers did not consistently sign 38% of the reviewed logs, and supervisors did not consistently sign 69%. This lack of documentation indicates a breakdown in internal controls and raises concerns about the accuracy and completeness of cash handling procedures.

The Auditor’s Office has fulfilled its follow-up responsibilities by conducting two follow-up audits on these recommendations. For the outstanding recommendation, it is now the responsibility of Solid Waste management to implement the remaining recommendation and the County Council to provide oversight and enforcement, if needed, to mitigate the associated risks. The Auditor’s Office will no longer be following up on this recommendation. Without sufficient oversight from management, these identified issues and their corresponding recommendations will not be addressed. It is crucial for Solid Waste management and the County Council to ensure these recommendations are implemented to manage the risks effectively.

We performed this audit in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS). 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. We appreciate the leaders and team members at Solid Waste who shared their time and knowledge with us during the audit. We appreciate the cooperation and assistance provided by all county stakeholders during this audit. Please contact me at 385-468-7200 with any questions.

Chris Harding, CPA, CFE, CIA
Salt Lake County Auditor