Louisiana Legislative Auditor
Daryl G. Purpera, CPA, CFE

March 30, 2015

Ex-Simsboro Employee Took About $12,000, Audit Reveals

A former employee of the Village of Simsboro in Lincoln Parish used “unauthorized credits to utility billings” to cover the theft of approximately $12,000 in cash from utility collections, according to an audit report released Monday by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera’s office.

The audit was performed for the state auditor by the accounting firm of Cameron, Hines and Co. of West Monroe.

The report did not identify the employee. However, it said the employee was fired, and the information about the thefts was turned over to the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The report said an exact amount of credits to customer accounts could not be precisely determined, but auditors said indications are it was “around $12,000. The alleged theft came to light as the accounting firm was performing the audit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2014.

“The employee was not properly supervised,” the report said. “Safeguards were not installed within the software package for billing and payments to not allow credits to be entered by the employee.”

Village officials said in their response to the finding that, while it is not cost efficient to hire someone else to provide “some degree of checks and balances,” the mayor or an alderman “will review the accounting each month.” They said the village also now reviews credits to customer accounts on a monthly basis.

The accounting firm also found that the village was late in submitting its financial statements to the state auditor. The annual report for the fiscal year that ended last June was due in the auditor’s office by the end of December, but it was not filed until weeks past the deadline.

For more information contact:

Legislative Auditor
225.339.3800



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Office of the Louisiana Legislative Auditor | www.LLA.La.gov