Audit of Assessors Office Payroll
Scope
The scope of the audit was from September 1, 2021, to August 31, 2022.
Objectives
The audit objectives were to provide reasonable assurance that the internal controls in place are adequate and effective and that the payroll processes comply with all applicable fiscal ordinances, policies, and procedures. Areas of audit focus included the processes and procedures for the following:- Onboarding of new employees
- Timekeeping
- Special allowances paid through payroll
- Overtime and compensatory time
- Reconciliations of payroll time and expenditures
- Offboarding of terminated employees
Additionally, in August 2023, the Salt Lake County Auditor’s Fraud Hotline received two separate fraud allegations regarding the Assessor’s Office. Anonymous individuals claimed to have knowledge of an employee from the Assessor’s Office openly discussing not working and instead performing personal tasks while logged in to work remotely.
The Auditor’s Office makes no opinion regarding the validity of the claim regarding an employee falsifying their time. However, as a result of the tips submitted, the scope of the audit was expanded to include additional audit procedures designed to provide reasonable assurance that controls are in place enabling management oversight of employee remote work, fieldwork, and vehicle usage.
Report Highlights
Termination requests submitted after employees’ last working date and a terminated employee was overpaid.
Timekeeping system access was not revoked for one of the 9 terminated employees tested for more than one year after their last work date. Additionally, one employee (11%) received a paycheck after terminating, receiving net pay of $2,163 in error.
Background Checks Not Conducted or Not Conducted Before the Start of Employment.
A background check was not completed for one out of the thirteen (8%) newly hired employees reviewed. In addition, a background check was not completed prior to starting work for another employee.
Control Weaknesses Over Remote Work and Vehicle Use.
We found that manager and remote staff schedules did not always overlap, and locations visited were not verified. In addition, vehicles were not logged in or out and locations visited were not tracked.
Timecards Not Approved by a Supervisor and Lack of Segregation of Duties.
We found that timecard entries were not approved by the employee’s supervisor for 204 out of 7,349 (3%) TCP transactions, entered by 21 out of the 33 (64%) employees. In addition, entries were approved by the same individual in TCP and PeopleSoft for 163 out of 7,349 (2%) transactions for 21 out of 33 (64%) employees.
