Auditors find problems at Nevada bank auditing department

Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001 | 11:01 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state agency that oversees banks, savings and loan associations and other financial institutions has some weaknesses in its own bookkeeping system, a legislative audit says.

The audit of the state Division of Financial Institutions said the division puts its collections in the wrong accounts, fails to deposit its receipts timely in the bank, thereby losing interest, and overcharged banks and other institutions for services.

The legislative audit team, headed by Deputy Auditor Richard Neil, said the state division put $180,000 into the agency's investigative account instead of the state's general fund.

But Sydney Wickliffe, director of the state Department of Business and Industry, which has authority over the Division of Financial Institutions, said the attorney general's office advised that the money was properly put into the investigative account. She said a bill would be proposed to the Legislature to clarify that the money goes to the investigative fund.

The audit, released Tuesday, said 13 of the 22 checks of greater than $10,000 received by the agency were not deposited timely. The longest delay was eight days with the average five days.

"Deposit delays reduce the state's interest earnings and increase the risk that money will be lost or stolen," the audit said. Wickliffe said all of those late deposits were in one month when a new employee was handling the business.

The audit also complained that money received in the Las Vegas office, which totalled $40,000 last fiscal year, was mailed to Carson City for deposit.

"Mailing money, especially currency, increases the risk it will be lost or stolen," the audit said.

Wickliffe said the amount of money received at the Las Vegas office accounts for only 2 percent of the total budget. She said the agency will consider stopping collections in Las Vegas.

The division collects money from banks and other financial institutions for the services it provides, such as audits. But it overbilled these private institutions by about $30,000, according to the legislative examination. Wickliffe said the agency accepted the findings about overbilling.