CCP 05-28-1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I I Al?IX) I- I CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS I April 12, 1996 AND CONSULTANTS . Members of the City Council City of Arden Hills Arden Hills, Minnesota I In planning and performing our audit of the general purpose financial statements of the City of Arden Hills for the year ended December 31, 1995, we considered I its internal control structure in order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the financial statements and not to provide assurance on the internal control structure. Howeverr we noted certain matters involving the internal control structure and its operations that we I consider to be reportable conditions under standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Reportable conditions involve matters coming to our attention relating to significant deficiencies in the design or operation of the internal control structure that_ in our judgment, could -. adversely affect the City's ability to record_ process, summarize and report financial data consistent with the assertions of management in the financial statements. I A material weakness is a reportable condition in which the design or operation of one or more of the internal control structure elements does not reduce to a relatively low level the risk that errors or irregularities in amounts that would be material in relation to the financial statements being audited may occur and - not be detected within a timely period by employees in the normal course of performing their assigned functions. I Our consideration of the internal control structure would not necessarily disclose all matters in the internal control structure that might be reportable conditions and, accordingly_ would not necessarily disclose all reportable conditions that are also considered to be material weaknesses as defined above. - However, we noted the following reportable condition that we believe to be a material weaknesses. Seqreqation of Duties I Our study and evaluation disclosed that because of the limited size of your office staff, your organization has limited segregation of duties. A good internal control structure contemplates an adequate segregation of duties so that I no one individual handles a transaction from inception to completion. While we recognize that your organization is not large enough to permit an adequate segregation of duties in all respects, it is important, however, that you be aware of this condition. I .- Member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Private Companies Practice Section . 115 cA~T HICKORY STREET, SUITE )(12 W+EASTf'CARL STREET 1iJ(i(J NORTHLAND PLAZA I'OI',()Xll66 P.O BOX H, >OO.lWEST80THSTREET lvL~NKATO, MfI-,:NESOlA S6OO1_1i66 OWAIDNNA, M1NNESOfA S5O&'-DH5 MINNEAPOUS, MINNESOTA S;411 (,O)lm-.!w (>Ol)4,1-9D6 (6U)8lS.1I(l'K' FAX(507)J~9119 FAX(507)4S!.()i9<! FAX (61l)896-J6W