Sunday, March 31, 2002

HI - Inventory miscount causes $5.8 million overage at Honolulu utility News-Journal wire services

HONOLULU -- Auditors looking at the city's finances recently found that two sewer valve repair kits valued at $290 each were mistakenly counted nearly 10,000 times each over the past three years.

The discrepancy caused the sewer fund's inventory balance to be inflated by about $5.8 million.

City officials said an antiquated inventory system was to blame for counting 19,998 kits instead of two, and a new accounting system is being installed.

Auditors had to go through some 1,800 sheets of entries to find the problem, said Tim Steinberger, city director of environmental services.

"We should not run into this problem again," he said.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers discovered the error during the annual audit for the city's federal financial assistance programs.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/2002/Mar/31/NOTE1.htm

-- Anonymous, April 01, 2002