Accountant wants to reconcile data before audit

By Deborah Davis Locker / Special to The Detroit News, Wednesday, March 6, 2002

HARTLAND TOWNSHIP -- The township's accountant is unhappy with the past two months of financial reporting information. Sandy Egeler, an accountant from Scio Township in Washtenaw County with more than 20 years experience, reconciles Hartland's monthly accounting. But, because of incomplete information, Egeler has had a difficult time reconciling the township's December monthly report and reporting the January payroll information. No one is saying there is any wrongdoing, but Egeler and township officials want to make sure the financial books are accurate for the March 31 end of the fiscal year audit. Egeler believes the incomplete payroll reporting information in January was the result of computer entries not generating proper accounting numbers. The township has consulted the software manufacturer to find out if it was a human error or a faulty computer program. Although a January audit found the township's financial books in order, Egeler said she was troubled by a memo she received from township Treasurer Jim Germane that stated there were some discrepancies in several financial accounts. "The memo was a listing of months where the total amounts of money were off," said Egeler, who is paid $30 per hour under a contract to examine the township's monthly financial records. "I can't reconcile it, and wonder what the intent of it (the memo) was." The memo had incomplete information, listing wrong account numbers and wrong funding figures, making it difficult for her to tell if the accounts all balanced, Egeler said. Germane said he sent the memo because he found some overages in accounts and sent the discrepancies to Egeler's attention. "The intent of the memo was misunderstood. I just wanted to tell her what needs to be recorded," Germane said. Germane said the discrepancies were caused by coding mistakes. No one was able to say how much money was involved in the discrepancies. The township takes in more than $4.4 million each year in operating taxes and sewer fees. This week, Germane will meet with Clerk Ann Ulrich, and Trustee Doug Kuhn to pull the invoices and see what codes were used by each township department head. Ulrich said she has not observed or been informed by any department head that any coding errors have occurred. "The department heads should be watching their budget to inform us if there is a problem," Ulrich said. Ulrich said the township paid $1,500 to outside auditors to look over the general ledger for accuracy in January. "They never caught any errors," Ulrich said. "Germane is a man that supposedly knows his job, but he is not able to communicate to an accountant any better than he does with me."

Detroit News

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2002

Answers

Looks like a Y2K+2 glitch.

-- Anonymous, March 09, 2002