The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-08-17
AUDITING THE
AUDITORS BOOKS
Continued from first page.

Wda Huch larger IMAM stated IN my Tor
mer notice, and on May 8 ] asked him
for conference with myself, the pres
emit auditor and the state treasurer at
Montpelier. | later learned that he was
at that time engaged in the trial of a
state case and could not come to Mont
pelier. Since that time he has called for
an itemized list of the unvouchered or
ders, and ! am having such list made
for him
] found upon making the examination
of the vouchers on file that there were
SS,0l7.7S which Auditor Graham present
ed to me as vouchers and receipts for
money paid out for extra clerical work,
salary Of employees and money disbursed
by him for special highway work under
the authority of the highway commits.
sioner which are not now in the files of
the auditors account Vouchers are on
file in 1912 for $4,000 in one voucher,
a portion Of which should be applied
upon the balances of 1909 and 1910. My
records show that when all the credits
which were presented me from 1909 to
July !, 1914, were applied in their prop.
er places the balance of the advances to
the auditor at that time was sl02.75.
The two orders of 81 200 and $500, re.
spectively, charged in different highway
accounts in 1915, were checked in the
regular checking of the list Of orders is.
sued, but were carried in those accounts
as advances to the highway commission
or, and ! supposed they were advances,
rs the highway commissioner was in the
habit of drawing money from the treas
ury in anticipation of the needs Of his
department and sometimes quite large
amounts, and ! never took those into ac-
count in figuring the auditors account.
One Of them now stands as a balance
brought forward in red ink, and the 9TH
er remains in the account as it was orig.
inally entered. None of the accounts in
the auditors account previous to the
time ! took the Office were brought for.
ward or red-inked, and they are not now
brought forward or red-inked. The bal
ance Of the auditors account for the
year 1900 was not carried forward to the
next year or red linked and is not now.
The same is true Of the account for the
year ending June 80, 1910. On June 80,
1911, there was a balance brought for
ward of S205.7l into the next year The
balance for June 30, 1912, was not car.
ried forward or red.inked. There was a
balance for the biennial term Of 1913
1914 which was carried forward. When
made the last previous examination Of
the auditors books and papers, which
was completed some time after July |,
1915, ! found balance charged against
him Of 50 ,85g95, which he had drawn
to pay his clerk hire, expense and sal
ary and if, the account had then stood
las | had right to suppose it did, and
he had not drawn any more orders to
himself during the balance Of his term,
there would have been no deficit
In my report to the legislature in 1916
stated that the busine- Of the treas.
.urer's office and the auditors office had
50 greatly increased in number Of trans
actions and volume of business that it
was not possible for the bank commits
sioner, without assistance, to properly
examine these departments, and asked
that the law be changed 40 as to require
more frequent examinations Of each of
these departments, and that competent
assistance should be provided SO that the
supervision Of these departments might
more nearly conform to that OF the
banks, but no action was taken upon
this recommendation
| think the legislature should pro
vide for expert examination of the audi
tors office and the treasurer's office:
that these examinations should Be once
each quarter instead of annually, and
that the examination should extend to
all Of the state offices required to col.
lect any money belonging to the state.
think there should be change in the
methods in both these offices. whereby
all disbursements should be approved BY
the governor, or there should be such
system of checking as viii safeguard the
handling Of the funds Of the state.
! think that no money should be ad-
vanced to any state officer for the pay.
ment Of salaries and expenses of his de.
partment, but that the salaries and ex-
penses of state officers and employees
should be paid each month by the audi.
tor instead Of each three months
In checking the accounts in the past
years between the auditors Office and
the tressurer's office. ! learned that these
two departments had a system of verify
ing orders each month and upon exami-
nation of the treasurer's Office each year
those verifcations were produced and
fled. had supposed until recently that
such verihcations were a check both upon
the auditor and the treasurer, but find
that it went only as far as to determine
the number and amount of outstanding
orders and had no relation to the use to
which the orders were put
The very large amount Of business
transacted by both these offices and the
many different departments with which
each has to deal--more especially the au-
ditor's oiiice--makes it imperative that
examinations in future should be made
by expert accountants who can give suff-
cient time to balance every account, but
in order that this may be done it is nee
essary that the methods which have pre-
vailed for many years be reformed.
While ! spent practically six weeks
with my assistant and clerk in making
this last examination, yet it must be I'M
derstood that | could not in that time
make thorough examination of all the
accounts in the office. That would be
the work Of many months for several
persons. am not prepared to say to
the legislature that the amount of the
shortage reported covers the entire def
cit The auditor, under the law, has very
great powers, responsibilities and duties
in the handling and settling Of the ac-
counts of the state, and there are at all
times a great many settlements in prog
ress. Many times vouchers are not fled
and accounts finally settled for months
after the account accrued, which makes
any examination such as the bank com
missioner can make, even with an assist