Follow-Up of Sarasota County Area Transit (SCAT) Bus Pass Inventory and Revenue, December 2017

10 | A u d i t o f S C A T B u s P a s s I n v e n t o r y a n d R e v e n u e S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 6 4. Policies and Procedures for third party agencies selling bus passes on consignment Observation SCAT provides bus passes to third party agencies throughout the county for sale to citizens. The auditor was provided a list of eight third party agencies that are provided bus passes on a consignment basis. Payment by these eight entities is not made to SCAT until after the bus passes are sold. There is no policy or procedure for these consignment-type sales, nor is there consistency in how the payment from these eight third parties is handled. No written agreements between SCAT and the third parties exist and revenue is not recorded until payment is received. Additionally, it was noted that when delivery is made to a third party agency, there is no documentation of the chain of custody for the bus passes. The following was detected during the audit:  One third party contacts SCAT approximately once a year to inform SCAT that they have accumulated a specific dollar amount for bus pass sales. Since there are no records maintained by SCAT to determine the amount due, an invoice is generated for the amount the third party provides.  One third party (County department) receives bus passes as requested and deposits receipts to the County bank account. No reconciliation of the deposited amounts to expected revenue is performed.  One third party, with multiple locations, is provided bus passes as requested. SCAT staff returns to the third party locations two or three months after the bus passes were provided and count what is left, compare to what was provided, and then bill accordingly. Recommendation To ensure consistent consignment practices, policies and procedures should be developed and implemented that include, but are not limited to, processes for:  Approving a third party for consignment of bus passes;  Documenting in writing the payment terms with each third party;  Documenting the chain of custody when bus passes are provided;  Recording and monitoring accounts receivable for each third party; and  Invoicing third parties. Management Response The following policies and procedures are being developed by fiscal staff, specific to agencies selling passes on consignment, with the expected implementation date of November 30, 2016:  Establish requirements for third party agencies to receive bus passes to sell on consignment.