Missing Mile One cash totals $58K, less than initial figure
Full review by auditor to look at 'cash handling' processes
An auditor's review has shown an unexplained amount of cash missing from Mile One Centre operations totals $58,089 — down from the initial figure of $114,863.
"Our internal audit staff have found no evidence of wrongdoing," Mayor Danny Breen told reporters after Monday's council meeting.
"At this point, calling in the police wouldn't have done anything because they can't pinpoint that there was any wrongdoing."
The mix-up in monetary values is due to a number of errors and omissions in the coding of accounting — mistakes that happened between Jan. 1, 2012 and Dec. 13, 2016.
"The primary issue was in the floats/petty cash account, which was only reconciled annually, leading to a situation in which management mistakenly believed that the variances noted between the physical cash count and the accounting records were the result of timing issues," Breen added in a press release.
The almost $60,000 still unaccounted for is either due to miscounting, theft or a combination of both.
The auditor's review has "revealed numerous internal control weaknesses related to cash controls." However the details of those were not immediately available.
After looking at 1000s of documents city's auditor says $58,089.05 missing since Jan 1/2012 (originally thought to be $114,863.40) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbcnl?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cbcnl</a> <a href="https://t.co/7uNjs7OX5r">pic.twitter.com/7uNjs7OX5r</a>
—@Jeremy_Eaton"There was a breakdown in the financial procedures and that needs to be corrected," Breen said.
"As the new mayor of St. John's, I'm going to ensure that it's corrected and I am going to ensure that we have the proper procedures and policies put in place."
The auditor will now take on a detailed review of the "cash handling and reconciliation processes" to ensure no other issues are related to the coding errors. The final report is due next month.