Treasurer outlines bank‑account confirmation and control practices after national fraud examples
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Summary
Lee County Treasurer reviewed current segregation of duties, bank confirmation practices with auditors, and efforts to capture department bank accounts in the county accounting system to reduce risk after nationwide cases of hidden accounts surfaced.
Lee County Treasurer Reid updated the Finance Committee on revenue and expenditures and described internal practices designed to reduce the risk of unauthorized bank accounts and cash handling errors.
Reid told the committee the county’s general fund was slightly ahead on expenses and that some departments may need to use special revenue funds more consistently. He described measures used to detect unknown accounts during audits, including coordinating with auditors at Wipfli to send bank confirmation requests under the county’s tax ID rather than listing account numbers. "I prepared the bank recs to give to Wipfli to send out, and I took off all of our account numbers from that so that it clearly states ... please confirm any of our accounts under our tax ID number," Reid said.
Reid said the treasurer’s office rotates duties and segregates cash handling from reconciliation tasks. He noted that most county bank accounts are opened by the treasurer’s office under board authorization but conceded some elected officials maintain separate accounts tied to their offices; those accounts are requested during audits to ensure records are complete.
Board members raised recent examples from other counties where hidden or unauthorized accounts were discovered and asked whether Lee County’s controls were sufficient. Reid and other officials said they have made progress integrating more accounts into the county accounting software and are working with department heads to improve monthly reporting.
What happens next: staff will continue bank confirmations with auditors and pursue monthly integration of department accounts into the county finance system where practical.