Evening star., 1907-11-10
MONEYS OF DISTRICT
Auditor Urges Central Control
of Accounting.
ATTACKS PRESENT SYSTEM
Recommendations in Annual Report
to Commissioners.
IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENTS
Analytical System of Bookkeeping.
Business of Justices of the Peace.
Police Revenues.

1
on the plane of an up-to-date business
corporation.
| The most important Improvement re com
mended by the auditor is a central contro.
| of the accounting of the District to max
| the various offices. which are now keeping
| diversified records part of onr gen raj
perfect accounting system under one
| head. In making this recommendation,
| Auditor Tweedale says there eX's.s an
| urgent necessity for the adoption Of
| well-organiZed and cGntraliz q syst IN of
| accounting control of the finances OF the
| District of Columbia. together with
! thorough analytical system of bou'Illeep-
ing. the order that the business of tn Dis
| trict government may be transacted with
| out financial loss. and that the results of
its business may be expressed accurately
| and intelligently.
Criticizes Loose Methods
| Mr. Tweedale scored the loose ana un-
| satisfactory manner in which he says the
| accounts of the special assessments ara
| kept, and said that. because of the mac
| curacy of this system. the Commissioners
| have. upon his advice. taken official action
| which will materially change the old
| plan of handling these assessments, and
| whereby all assessments for special i'm
| provements. before being officially signed
| by the Commissioners. will thereafter be
]
| tor. At present they have been kept on
| the books of the special assessment divi
sion This change. Mr. Tweedale says,
will enable his office to establish a levy
| account for such class of taxes and pro
vide means of checking and verifying
| the various individual accounts on the
| books in the office of the special assess
me Mt division.
| Another important recommendation by
| the auditor with a view of bettering the
| n inStippS
| the peace in the District. that the present
law providing subdistricts be amended
| so that all cases coming before the
| justices may be assigned to any of the
| justices for hearing and that the various
! justices be assembled in one building, and
| be provided with one accounting officer,
to be under the strict supervision of the
| auditor At present the six justices are
scattered and the moneys from fees are
| collected and accounted for by six diff
| ferent collecting agencies, which system,
Mr.. Tweedale considers unbusinessltke.
Police Court Revenues.
| It is also recommended that legislation
be secured which will provide that depos-
its made with the clerk Of the Police
Court remaining in his hands for three
years from the date Of deposit be forfeited
and paid to the collector of taxes for de-
posit as part of the revenues of the Dis
| trict of Columbia.
| Mr. Tweedale says the present account
| ing system of the District as far as the
auditors and disbursing officers offices
| are concerned has undergone great i'm
provement during the past few years. say
| ing that the records now give a thorough
| and comprehensive statement Of all re-
cefpts and expenditures, showing the va
| rious sources of revenue and income the
| amounts collectable on each item thereof
and the expenditures in detail therefrom
| ~ rIaf nd 0f tr,,of
and special funds.
The auditor also says that there Is
| large part OF the Districts appropriations
\ which are paid annually by aisbursing
| officers other than the disbursing officer
for the District of Columbia on vouchers
not audited or approved by the auditor
| and calls attention to the fact that the
| system should be Immediately corrected.
He stated that the vouchers handled by
| these various disbursing officers are not
audited and approved by the auditor.
Example Of Faulty Accounting.
THE result Of this system is that the
| District loses the accounting control over
the moneys SO paid" Mr.. Tweedale says.
"As concrete example Of the faulty ac-
counting occasioned by this method of
expenditure 1 desire to invite attention to
| an item IN the annual report, namely, the
| charge for the Maryland Institution for
I
| have been paid by the Treasury Depart
ment out Of the permanent annual in
| definite appropriation for that purpose
! without calling upon the District authori-
| ties in any way to pay the bills or even
| notifying them when the payment had
| been made. The consequence Of this
| method Of transaction of business is that
| in this annual statement there is q charge
against the District for payments that
| have been made to the institution for the
preceding seven years and. in addition
| to the charge, the District of Columbia
| is required to pay 2 per cent interest on
the sum Of money so paid by the Treas
| ury Department. No accountant how
| ever competent he may be. can ever hope
| to faithfully and correctly state the ac-
| tual expenses of the government of the
| District Of Columbia when such conu-
| ton is allowed to exist. This is but one
example Of the results of this method of
accounting.
| while it Is recognized that Congress-
| in its wisdom, has placed certain of the
| public improvem 3nts ard the care of pub
lie buildings and grounds under the di-
| rection and control Of the federal depart
| ments, and while the advisability of 80
placing this control Is not IN any way
questioned, yet 1t is believed If it is the
desire of Congress that this method OF
handling the appropriations should con-
tinue, that 1t should be modified so that
while the direction and control of the ex-
penditures would remain in the hands of
the expenditures !he actual payment of
the money should BE- made through the
disbursing officer of the District Of Co
lumbia upon vouchers which had been
certified and approved by the officer hav-
ling control of the expenditures and au-
dted by the auditor of the District Of Co.
lumbia as is now required by law
Trouble Under Present System.
AS an example of the trouble that
arises under the present system Auditor
Tweedale calls attention to the fact that
at the close of the fiscal year 1906 1t was
discovered that the disbursng officers
referred to had In their possession large
sums of money upon which the District
OF Columbia was compelled to pay Fer
cent interest. All Of this money was not
needed for immediate u.s.. but had been
drawn preparatory to making payments
which were about to accrue. That Re-
suited in a loss to the District by reason
of having to pay interest on moneys not
| required for immediate use. 1t appears
to the auditor to be a strong argument
| H. In fact. 1t is not a matter of simple
justice to the taxpayers of the District
OF Columbia for the placing of the ex-
penditures of the money from District
! appropriations in the hands Of the on