The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-20

l parks under contracts by which a cer-
 tain amount is paid each year for a re-
 newal of an option to purchase for an other year, such payment being applied | on the contract. Should the city, through | oversight or otherwise, fail to make it's | payment and renew the option on the l date named in the contract under the l terms of the contract, it would forfeit | all previous payments and lose the prop | erty. We think the city's interests would | be much better protected were these op- tions all taken up by notes maturing at | the same time as the contracts call for payments. The balance due on these op- tions July 1, 1907, was s1s,962 fl. (See ex- | hibit 51.)
 No Copies of Contracts.
 We desire to call your attention to | the fact that at present the auditor. has, with few exceptions, no copies of the contracts Centered Into by the city for public work or service. Every such contract should be filed in his office and recorded and preserved by him; without such q record at hand he can not make satisfactory audit of claims presented to him for payment. We would recom- mend the adoption of an amendment to the code requiring that the original of all contracts shall be filed with the auditor to which he shall make reference be- fore approving any claim thereunder.
 The system of accounts which we have installed has for its basic principle the making of the auditor the chief financial and accounting officer of the city, through whose office every transaction must pass and be recorded. and where information on all questions concerning the city's finances may be secured. This has neces- sarily considerably increased the audi tors duties and responsibilities, but the present auditor, MT. c. s. Peterson, has the details of the new system well in hand and the change from the old to the new has been accomplished with but lit tie interference with current business.
 We think the city is to be congratulated that our examination has revealed no moneys due from its officials which have not been accounted for, that all moneys due have, a rule been paid into the treasury promptly, and that such errors as have been discovered have been due mainly to carelessness or lack of sys- tenn.
 We desire to thank you and the mem bers of the board of Mayor and Alder men, together with the city officials with whom 1t has been necessary to confer during the investigation, for the uniform courtesy which has been extended to us; we have had the cooperation of every official and our suggestions for changes and improvements in methods have been cheerfully followed. This has served in many instances to tighten the burden of our task and will in 8 large measure insure the success of the new system
 Very respectfully
 HOWARD C. BECK, Certified Public Accountant The Audit
 The period covered by the audit is | the IA months from May 1, 1906 to June 90. 1 nd fIa fad in ma
 the same, so far receipts are con- | cerned, was to reconcile the money l actually paid into the city treasury. with 1 tho original receipts or entries of the
 same in tho departments creating the
 revenue. referring to intermediate en- 1 tries only when necessary to locate any
 discrepancies which might exist. All
 vouchers for the payment of money
 from the city treasury have been ex- I amned, the footings and extensions there
 of verified; all duplicate payments noted,
 and the return to the treasury secured | of all moneys so erroneously paid. or | the few vouchers missing from the files,
 and which we have been unable to To-
 cate reference has been had to the paid
 warrant An examination has also been
 made of the proceedings of the Board
 of Mayor and Aldermen authorizing or approving tho payment of moneys from
 the city treasury, and a Mst is herewith
 
 | which we can find no formal approval l by the board. With your approval we | have not made a detailed check of the | transactions of the public improvement
 fund but have verified the balances to
 the credit of the respective ordinances
 with the bank statement of same. The
 thorough system which prevails in the city treasurers office In recording the inflow and outgo of the public improve
 ment moneys leads us to believe that
 few, if any errors have been made in
 the distribution thereof, and the accom- | panying statement of the receipts and l disbursements of the various ordinances in the aggregate is taken from the city l treasurer's records.
 We desire to say further. that we have
 found the books of the city treasurer s office accurately kept, and the care and l completeness with which the transactions | of that office have been recorded have
 been of material assistance to us in lay ing the foundation for several of the open
 ing entries in the new ledgers. In as
 much as new set of books was to | be opened in the auditors office, with 1 different classifcations from those form
 erly kept and on an entirely different 1 basis. we did not deem it necessary
 to verify .the correctness of the detailed
 entries m the old books in that office. l the total receipts. disbursements and 1 balances having been determined by the l original receipts stubs, warrants, treas | urer's cash book and bank pass bok. | We sumbit first a statement of the | receipts and disbursements of the city 1 general fund tso called) and the school l bond fund for the IA months above noted l The balance on hand in bank at close of | business June 90, 1907. being verified by l the bank pass book and the cash in office
 being deposited in bank on July g. 1901.
 The New System of Accounting. | Municipal accounts present one feature l wholly different from commercial ac- | counts in that they have no profit and l hal