The Pennsylvania Office of the Auditor General has released the 2009-2012 study of the troubled Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts operations.

It was a county controller's office audit of the 2012 records last year that revealed discrepancies that led to a federal and state investigation of then-Clerk Stephen M. Lukach Jr.Lukach, a Rush Township Democrat who had held office for 27 years, announced his retirement on April 17, 2014.No charges have been filed against him.The conclusions of the state audit, released this week, aren't good."It shows inadequate internal controls in the Clerk of Courts office that were conducive to fraud," said Controller Christy D. Joy."These internal control issues … create an environment that is conducive to fraud and misappropriation," the report states.Inadequate controlsSeveral of the problems are ongoing, according to the audit.A letter sent to Joy Tuesday by Auditor General Eugene A. DePasquale states:"Inadequate internal controls over receipts and the bank account were also noted in the examination report for the period ending Dec. 31, 2008, but had not been corrected as of our most recent examination."We strongly recommend that the county officer take corrective action to implement the recommendations noted in this examination report," DePasquale wrote.Among the findings in the 21-page audit were:• All receipts were not deposited on the same day they were collected;• Several deposits contained multiple days' collections;• Bank deposit slips were not always validated by the bank;• One deposit exceeded the total office collections by $20;• Segregation of duties in the Clerk of Courts office was inadequate.The audit noted that one person was reconciling the bank account, preparing checks, making deposits, summarizing accounting records, making voided transaction adjustments, approving disbursements, and signing checks.One-person operation"A good system of internal controls requires adequate segregation of duties. In order to achieve adequate segregation of duties, one employee should not have custody of cash and at the same time maintain the accounting records for the cash."These duties should be segregated and rotated daily. As an alternative control, someone independent from maintaining the accounting records and handling cash should review the employee's work daily."The reviewer should sign and date the records and documents reviewed."The lack of segregation of duties contributes to an environment that is conducive to fraud and misappropriation," the audit states.Also, although cited in the prior audit, monthly bank reconciliations were not prepared properly, there was a large unexplained bank account adjustment, there were numerous outstanding checks, and inadequate accountability continued to exist over funds held in escrow in the Clerk of Courts office.The audit included the Adult Probation Department, and found that office failed to issued manual receipts and or maintain logs of the manual receipts given to the clerk's office to be entered into its computer system.There were 25 instances in which the Clerk of Courts' office did not enter the Probation Department's manual receipt number into the computer system when the corresponding computer receipt was generated.According to the audit, there were 15 instances in which the Clerk of Courts' computer receipt was not generated in a timely manner after the issuance of the corresponding manual receipt.The time lapse from the Probation Department's manual receipt date to corresponding computer receipt ranged from two days to 36 days.There also were 25 instances in which the Clerk of Courts' computer-generated receipt did not indicate that payment was received by the Probation Department.The audit noted that the Adult Probation Department now has access to the CPCMS system, and is processing payments as they receive them on a daily basis.The current Clerk of Courts will speak to the Chief Adult Probation Officer and request that they use the CPCMS-generated manual, pre-numbered receipts in the event the CPCMS system is not working and a manual receipt has to be issued.The audit will be available at

http://www.auditorgen.state.pa.us/