HANCOCK COUNTY TABLE OF CONTENTS FINANCIAL SECTION_part5 potx

PATTERSON AUDITOR 47 INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT ON THE INTERNAL CONTROL STRUCTURE BASED ON AN AUDIT OF THE GENERAL PURPOSE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS PERFORMED IN ACCORDANCE WITH GOVERNMENT

41 HANCOCK COUNTY

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION

42 HANCOCK COUNTY

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HANCOCK COUNTY

Schedule of Federal Financial Assistance

For the Year Ended September 30, 1995

Catalog of Federal

Federal Financial Assistance

Primary Government

U S Department of Housing and

Urban Development - Community

Planning and Development/

Passed-through the Governor's

Office of Federal-State

Programs/Department of

Community Development

-State of Mississippi

U S Department of Justice/

Passed-through the Department of

Public Safety

Child victim assistance

U S Department of Transportation

-Federal Highway Administration/

Passed-through the Mississippi

Department of Transportation

Federal Financial Assistance

Component Units

Hancock County Human Resource Agency

U S Department of Agriculture/

Passed-through the Mississippi

Department of Education

Catalog of Federal

U S Department of Health

and Human Services/Passed-through

the Mississippi Department of

Human Services

Social services block grant

487-Q-231

Title XX senior citizen

Special programs for

the aging Title III, Part B

Special programs for

the aging Title III, Part C

Total U S Department of Health

Total Hancock County Human

Hancock County Port and Harbor

Commission

U S Department of Federal

Aviation Administration

80203

* Federal financial assistance is received from South Mississippi Planning and Development District, which acts as the area's management agency on behalf of the Mississippi Department of Human Services.

HANCOCK COUNTY

SPECIAL REPORTS

46 HANCOCK COUNTY

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OFFICE OF THE STATE AUDITOR

STEVEN A PATTERSON

AUDITOR

47

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT ON THE INTERNAL CONTROL STRUCTURE

BASED ON AN AUDIT OF THE GENERAL PURPOSE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS PERFORMED IN ACCORDANCE WITH GOVERNMENT AUDITING STANDARDS

July 15, 1996 Members of the Board of Supervisors

Hancock County, Mississippi

We have audited the general purpose financial statements of Hancock County, Mississippi, as of and for the year ended September 30, 1995, and have issued our report dated July 15, 1996

We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the general purpose financial statements are free of material misstatement

The management of Hancock County, Mississippi, is responsible for establishing and maintaining an internal control structure In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments by management are required

to assess the expected benefits and related costs of internal control structure policies and procedures The objectives of an internal control structure are to provide management with reasonable, but not absolute,

assurance that assets are safeguarded against loss from unauthorized use or disposition and that transactions are executed in accordance with management's authorization and recorded properly to permit the preparation of general purpose financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles Because of inherent limitations in any internal control structure, errors or irregularities may nevertheless occur and not be detected Also, projection of any evaluation of the structure to future periods is subject to the risk that

procedures may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the effectiveness of the design and operation of policies and procedures may deteriorate

In planning and performing our audit of the general purpose financial statements of Hancock County, Mississippi, for the year ended September 30, 1995, we obtained an understanding of the internal control structure With respect to the internal control structure, we obtained an understanding of the design of relevant policies and procedures and whether they have been placed in operation, and we assessed control risk in order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the general purpose financial statements and not to provide an opinion on the internal control structure Accordingly, we do not express such

an opinion

We noted certain matters involving the internal control structure and its operation that we 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 county's ability to record, process, summarize and report financial data consistent with the assertions of management in the general purpose financial statements The reportable conditions noted during our consideration of the internal control structure are described in the accompanying "Schedule of Auditor's Findings and Recommendations."

We noted a certain matter involving the internal control structure and its operation that we have

reported to the management of Hancock County, Mississippi, in our "Independent Auditor's Single Audit Report

on the Internal Control Structure Used in Administering Federal Financial Assistance Programs" dated July 15,

1996, included within this document

This report is intended for the use of the management This is not intended to limit the distribution of this report, which is a matter of public record

WILLIAM S JONES, CPA Director, Department of Audit

OFFICE OF THE STATE AUDITOR

STEVEN A PATTERSON

AUDITOR

49

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S SINGLE AUDIT REPORT ON THE INTERNAL CONTROL STRUCTURE

USED IN ADMINISTERING FEDERAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

July 15, 1996 Members of the Board of Supervisors

Hancock County, Mississippi

We have audited the general purpose financial statements of Hancock County, Mississippi, as of and for the year ended September 30, 1995, and have issued our report thereon dated July 15, 1996

We conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards; Government

Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States; and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular 128, Audits of State and Local Governments Those standards and OMB Circular

A-128 require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the general purpose financial statements are free of material misstatement

In planning and performing our audit for the year ended September 30, 1995, we considered the county's internal control structure in order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose of expressing our opinion on the county's general purpose financial statements and not to provide assurance on the internal control structure This report addresses our consideration of internal control structure policies and procedures relevant to compliance with requirements applicable to federal financial assistance programs We have

addressed policies and procedures relevant to our audit of the general purpose financial statements in a separate report dated

July 15, 1996

The management of Hancock County, Mississippi, is responsible for establishing and maintaining an internal control structure In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments by management are required

to assess the expected benefits and related costs of internal control structure policies and procedures The objectives of an internal control structure are to provide management with reasonable, but not absolute,

assurance that assets are safeguarded against loss from unauthorized use or disposition, that transactions are executed in accordance with management's authorization and recorded properly to permit the preparation of general purpose financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that federal financial assistance programs are managed in compliance with applicable laws and regulations Because

of inherent limitations in any internal control structure, errors, irregularities or instances of noncompliance may nevertheless occur and not be detected Also, projection of any evaluation of the structure to future periods is subject to the risk that procedures may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the

effectiveness of the design and operation of policies and procedures may deteriorate

For the purpose of this report, we have classified the significant internal control structure policies and procedures used in administering its federal financial assistance programs in the following categories:

General Requirements

Political Activity Davis-Bacon Act Civil Rights Cash Management

Federal Financial Reports Administrative Requirements Specific Requirements

Types of Services Matching, Level of Effort or Earmarking Reporting

Monitoring Subrecipients Claims for Advances and Reimbursements

Amounts Claimed or Used for Matching

For all of the internal control structure categories listed above, we obtained an understanding of the design of relevant policies and procedures and determined whether they have been placed in operation, and we assessed control risk

During the year ended September 30, 1995, Hancock County, Mississippi, had no major federal financial assistance programs and expended 78 percent of its total federal financial assistance under its nonmajor federal financial assistance program: Community development block grant

We performed tests of controls, as required by OMB Circular A-128, to evaluate the effectiveness of the design and operation of internal control structure policies and procedures that we considered relevant to preventing or detecting material noncompliance with specific requirements, general requirements and

requirements governing claims for advances and reimbursements and amounts claimed or used for matching that are applicable to the aforementioned nonmajor federal financial assistance program Our procedures were less

in scope than would be necessary to render an opinion on these internal control structure policies and

procedures Accordingly, we do not express such an opinion

We noted a certain matter involving the internal control structure and its operation that we consider to

be a reportable condition 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 county's ability to administer federal financial assistance programs in accordance with applicable laws and regulations The reportable condition noted during our consideration of the internal control structure is described in the

accompanying "Schedule of Auditor's Findings and Recommendations."

This report is intended for the use of the management, the cognizant agency and the appropriate grantor agencies This is not intended to limit the distribution of this report, which is a matter of public record

WILLIAM S JONES, CPA Director, Department of Audit

OFFICE OF THE STATE AUDITOR

STEVEN A PATTERSON

AUDITOR

51

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT ON CENTRAL PURCHASING SYSTEM

AND PURCHASE CLERK SCHEDULES (REQUIRED BY SECTION 31-7-115, MISS CODE ANN (1972))

July 15, 1996 Members of the Board of Supervisors

Hancock County, Mississippi

We have made a study and evaluation of the central purchasing system of Hancock County, Mississippi,

as of and for the year ended September 30, 1995 Our study and evaluation included tests of compliance of the Purchase Clerk records and such other auditing procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances

The Board of Supervisors of Hancock County, Mississippi, is responsible for establishing and

maintaining a central purchasing system in accordance with Sections 31-7-101 through 31-7-127, Miss Code Ann (1972) In addition, the Board of Supervisors is responsible for purchasing in accordance with the bid requirements of Section 31-7-13, Miss Code Ann (1972) The Board of Supervisors of Hancock County, Mississippi, has established centralized purchasing for all funds of the county and has established an inventory control system The objective of the central purchasing system is to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that purchases are executed in accordance with state law

Because of inherent limitations in any central purchasing system, errors or irregularities may occur and not be detected Also, projection of any evaluation of the system to future periods is subject to the risk that procedures may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or that the degree of compliance with the procedures may deteriorate

The results of our audit procedures did not disclose any instances of noncompliance with state laws governing central purchasing and bid requirements

In our opinion, Hancock County, Mississippi, complied, in all material respects, with state laws governing central purchasing and bid requirements

The accompanying schedules of (1) purchases not made from the lowest bidder, (2) emergency

purchases and (3) purchases made noncompetitively from a sole source are presented in accordance with Section 31-7-115, Miss Code Ann (1972) The information contained on these schedules has been subjected to

procedures performed in connection with our aforementioned study and evaluation of the purchasing system and,

in our opinion, is fairly presented when considered in relation to that study and evaluation