SHELBY — Issues with Shelby Municipal Court’s monthly bank reconciliations have remained a problem for years.
In a previous interview with Richland Source, Brian Crum, director of finance for the city, explained the problem began around 2018, when Shelby received the state’s audit of the court from 2017.
It was determined then the court was not properly reconciling its bank accounts.
In bookkeeping, a bank reconciliation is the process by which the bank account balance in an entity’s books of account is reconciled to the balance reported by the bank. Any difference between the two figures needs to be examined and, if appropriate, rectified.
During a Shelby City Council meeting in October 2023, former Councilman Garland Gates reported to council that significant deficiencies were found in the court’s monthly bank reconciliations.
He noted the same finding was flagged on the 2021 audit — repeated again a year later.
On Tuesday, Crum said the court did manage to get its difference down to a specific amount and is reconciling the bank for the same difference every month.
“I think it’s $613 in one account and just shy of $2,500 in the other account,” he said. “We worked with the judge and as of Dec. 31, 2024 they made a journal entry to remove those, which the state auditor said we could do since we’ve gotten it so small.
“I haven’t seen their (the court’s) bank reconciliations for December yet, but they should even out now and this should hopefully finally be a thing of our past.”
The most recently released state audit shows the finding’s status as “partially corrected.”
“Many of the reconciling items have been identified and addressed, and the unreconciled variance has been reduced,” the audit said.