Currently thought to be around $206,000: County awaits audit before writing off missing money

A plan to write approximately $200,000 off the county’s ledger is still in place, but county commissioners again Monday delayed a final decision to do so.

Commissioner Greg Partch said county finance authorities are still reviewing bank statements to spot any variations in the amount of the write-off.

Over the past decade, the county’s books have shown that, at last count, some $200,000 was recorded as invested in the county’s general ledger that can not be proven by bank statements.

Treasurer Robert Lothspeich said those investments, in addition to money from the county’s general fund, come from various school, fire and hospital districts within the county. The treasurer’s office manages the funds of all those districts.

Lothspeich said Elias Siriani, a private accountant hired by the county, is still reviewing bank statements through December in an effort to reconcile the county’s ledger with the bank statements.

“There’s a huge number of banks involved here, and each account has its own statement. So it really is a lot of work,” said Lothspeich.

Partch said commissioners will wait to approve the write-off until they receive Siriani’s final numbers. He said they want to make sure the difference between county records and bank statements is a consistent number.

The latest number, determined last fall, was $206,000. Partch said subsequent reviews of bank statements have shown small fluctuations, but have been around that amount.

Reconciliation of the county’s records and bank statements is being done to make sure the county has solid numbers when it makes the switch to its New World accounting software.

The New World software was purchased in 2005, but did not meet certain Washington State accounting requirements. Since that time, the county has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to make it compliant and to pay for training and updates.

Partch said the bulk of the efforts of county staff have been working to make sure the transition to the New World software will be smooth and complete.

Esther Wilson, systems administrator for the county, said the transition to the half-million dollar software program is going well, and the county appears to be on track to throw the switch to New World by July.

State auditors told the county late last year the write-off should be accounted for under 2010 financial activity. County officials are nearing the end of processing 2010 accounts.

Siriani is working for the county under a contract with his parent firm Anderson Peretti of Spokane. Commissioners in December approved a $25,000 contract with the firm to allow Siriani to track the investments.

Whitman County also paid Anderson Peretti $41,282 to help prepare its 2009 financial statement.