Parks department audit finds two decades of accounting discrepancies

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The California parks department had accounting problems for longer than previously revealed, according to an audit from Gov. Jerry Brown’s Department of Finance.

The audit report found that department officials were inaccurately reporting the balances held in two accounts since 1993. That’s about a decade longer than finance officials identified this summer, when it was revealed that parks had a hidden surplus of $54 million in two accounts.

The controller’s office, which signs the state’s checks, was getting correct information, but the Department of Finance, which puts together the state budget, was not. Finance officials were not comparing the two sets of data until this year.

Parks officials were ‘intentionally under-reporting fund balances to Finance for development of the governor’s budget,’ the audit said. The audit did not place blame for the discrepancy or explain why the funds were being inaccurately reported.

Finance officials said the audit did not find any additional hidden money in the two accounts. In a written response to the audit, parks officials said they have increased internal oversight of their budget.

The audit is the second review this week to find accounting problems in the department. On Tuesday, the controller’s office said payroll policies weren’t being followed and some employees may have been getting paid more than they should.

Two more reviews are still underway, one from the state auditor and one from the attorney general’s office.

ALSO:

California parks department finds $54-million surplus

Controller finds more accounting problems in parks payroll

Discovery of California parks fund provokes backlash from donors

-- Chris Megerian in Sacramento
twitter.com/chrismegerian