Council auditors are unable to say for sure staff at community campuses have been collecting all the cash they are due or recording amounts handed over accurately this year.
They found some employees were following “out of date” financial procedures during tests carried out in May, and have said in a report this could ultimately have led to income being lost at four campuses across the region.
The local authority’s finance and governance manager Jim Cockburn has now been tasked to “review all procedures” being used by staff at Breadalbane, Strathearn, Loch Leven and North Inch campuses and update them “as required”.
He has also been tasked to ensure all employees are trained to use the latest agreed procedures and develop a formal induction checklist for new starts by February next year.
A report outlining the findings of the audit, signed by PKC’s chief internal auditor Jackie Clark, is scheduled to be considered by the audit committee next week.
The report, which has already been published online, summarises: “The auditor observed income being collected and recorded, and advice being given as appropriate at each location.
“Owing to weaknesses and uncertainties in the control environment, assurances cannot be given that all Live Active Leisure (LAL) income is collected and recorded accurately on a daily basis.
“Induction training is completed through side by side shadowing activity, and it was noted that each site has designed localised procedure documents.
“However, the centralised campus reception finance procedures manual, which was approved as a set of operating procedures to be employed by all of the campuses, is out of date, does not form part of training processes observed, and the existence and location of this and other financial procedure documents were unknown to staff interviewed.
“This document also refers to a now-deleted supervisory/oversight role and there is a lack of evidence to support the re-allocation of all tasks at each location.
“Similar issues were noted with regards to procedure documents available to, and known by, staff for using the LAL system, MRM.
“Owing to these findings, some key processes and controls were not operating.
“In addition to the above, the auditor identified areas where procedures and controls could be enhanced, some in conjunction with LAL, to provide assurance that income is being collected and recorded as appropriate.
“These are in respect of invoicing and remittance notification, debt recovery, booking forms and cancellation processes, end of day variance investigations/reconciliations, system input, fraud/usage controls and community campus let income reconciliations.
“For arrangements to operate effectively, risks, controls, roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined and understood.
“Both parties may benefit from working together to ensure that there is clarity as to what checks are being undertaken and by whom, that any reports and guidance are available as required, that they are receiving appropriate information, and that communication is effective.”
The audit committee is scheduled to review the report, plus appendices next Wednesday, November 20.
