These are the steps the Pember has already taken and will continue to take to implement the recommendations of the Office of the State Comptroller.

 

Financial Stability

  • In order to provide financial stability for the Pember Library and Museum, the Board has agreed to ask the voters of the Granville Central School District to create a district library with stable funding.
  • The voters will vote on the initial funding for the district and subsequent budgets as well as for the Pember’s Board of Trustees. Our goals here are three-fold: to stabilize our funding, to provide greater accountability and to give the community a greater sense of ownership for the Pember.

 

Board Oversight of Financial Activities

  • Have reviewed our board policies and will formally vote on each fiscal year’s budget and that vote will be reflected in our Board minutes. Our budgets had, in the past, been approved by the Board but without a formal vote. Our budgets had always been submitted to the Village as part of our annual funding request.
  • Appointed a Financial Review Officer to receive and review, with the Executive Director, monthly financial reporting and reconciliations from the Library’s accountants.
  • The Board is developing a revised set of purchasing and investment policies to enhance financial oversight.
  • Following in the footsteps of prior Boards, the present Board had allowed the use of principal from the Foundation account to cover basic operating expenses. The audit uncovered an agreement with the Foundation dated April 4, 1999 that this board and previous boards did not know existed that restricted that account to only use of income from the principal and not the principal itself. The Board is no longer using the Foundation account and has adopted a plan to reinvest interest and all surplus money to reimburse the Foundation account. To date, $10,000 has been deposited back into the Foundation account.

 

Cash Disbursements

  • Board is developing a revised set of procedures to ensure than detailed monthly financial statements and reports are provided to the Board. These statements will be reviewed by the Financial Review Officer and the Executive Director in advance of Board review.
  • While there were no findings of material deficiencies in the payments reviewed by the audit, the Board has implemented a new payment procedure that includes
    • Continuation of the practice that no payments be made without prior Board review and approval
    • No expenditure will be approved unless there is sufficient cash flow to pay the expenditure within seven days of Board approval
    • The Library’s accountants will provide a cash flow reports to the Board (after review by the Financial Review Officer and the Executive Director) on a monthly basis

 

Cash Receipts

  • The Board is revising its procedures in the handling of cash (fines, fees, etc. paid by patrons) with our accountants. We continue to use press-printed, numbered receipts and are working to identify cash receipt generation directly from our circulation program.
  • The Board has approved the purchase of a cash register to record all other sales and transactions.
  • The Board has implemented a two-person cash-counting process

 

Bank Reconciliations

  • The Board is exploring options on how to strengthen the procedures used to provide data to the Library’s accountants so that they can do their work in a more timely and efficient manner.
  • The Financial Review Officer and the Executive Director will review all bank reconciliations.