Office of the Chief Financial Officer
Executive Summary for Closed Reports

Original Report

Report No. IA:OFT:2904-C01: Final Report on the Review of Internal Controls Over Electronic Funds transfers and Related Activities in OFT, dated October 27, 2009.

Current Status

Closed.

Chief Risk Officer’s Risk Assessment

The Inherent Risk associated with processing wire transfers is categorized as High risk. The OCFO recognizes as part of its core mission the payment of monies owed on behalf of the District and is acutely aware of the risk processing wires poses as it is money leaving the District. The OIO report cites the lack of materiality of deficiencies; nonetheless, particular attention was paid all OIO recommendations.
 
Overview of Recommendations

OIO offered four recommendations, and all four were implemented to strengthen existing internal controls.

• The cash management unit maintains a record of all transfers it executes on site for three years by category and date of transfer. These actions have been updated and documented in the Cash Management policy and procedure manuals.
• Cash Management staff have been cross trained on Electronic Fund Transfer procedures.  The procedures are written to the desk level. There are oversight controls in place as a part of the daily process to ensure the procedures are followed.
• The SunGard treasury workstation has been eliminated due to multiple problems and its high maintenance cost.  A new treasury system will be evaluated once the Oracle general ledger has been implemented.  Because OFT no longer uses SunGuard, there are no duplicates to be removed.
• The Cash Management unit has developed a contingency plan and included in that plan are the identified individuals and their respective responsibilities so Electronic Transfers can be executed in the event of an emergency or disaster. The plan is tested yearly. Finally, the cash management unit continues to refine and update the procedures for wire execution that include verification of the PDT and Bank ID elements before wires are executed.

To view the full report, click Review of Internal Controls over Electronic Funds Transfers and Related Activities in OFT full report.