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p~~~. L-~..:~- ROSEVILLE COUNCIL MAY 12, 2008 THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES, AND ROSEVILLE HAS NO ACCOUNTING SYSTEM TO MEET BUDGETARY REQUIREMENTS The reference to the emperor is to emphasize what happens when timid people won't be honest. The emperor kept demanding lighter and better clothes until he wound up naked. Worse, no one told him. Similar timidity exists amongst the Council when it comes to doing your duty in monitoring the financial matters of Roseville. In accordance with stated city policy (Resolution 10503, May 21, 2007), Chris Miller, Roseville's finance director presented his first quarter report to the Council on April ~21. That was a very broad brush, with very little detail. It did not satisfy my sense of what should be reported, so I requested additional data. It was supposed to be a normal by product of the existing accounting system. It was not. It was especially prepared by Mr. Miller for this specific occasion. I subsequently requested a copy of the city's year to date departmental financial reports compared to their budgeted goals, which I expected the city was already preparing. I didn't get that report, because it apparently doesn't exist. In the real private world, businesses prepare budgets, and then get reports monthly or quarterly, comparing actual expenditures, etc. to those in the budget. Where bad variances exists, corrections are made. Roseville spends a lot of time preparing annual budgets, but then ignores them until it's time to report for the year. Then, our finance department discovers it has over paid certain budgeted items, and comes to the Council to "amend" the budget to conform to what happened. This is a bad, if common situation. Roseville can and should do better.