Missing Mile One cash totals $58K, less than initial figure

An auditor's review has shown an unexplained amount of cash missing from Mile One Centre operations totals $58,089 down from the initial figure of $114,863.

"Our internal audit staff have found no evidence of wrongdoing," Mayor DannyBreentold reporters after Monday's council meeting.

"At this point, calling in the police wouldn't have done anything because they can't pinpoint that there was any wrongdoing."

The mix-up in monetary values is due to a number oferrors and omissions in the coding of accounting mistakes that happened betweenJan. 1, 2012 andDec.13, 2016.

"The primary issue was in the floats/petty cash account, which was only reconciled annually, leading to a situation in which management mistakenly believed that the variances noted between the physical cash count and the accounting records were the result of timing issues," Breen added in a press release.

The almost $60,000 still unaccounted for is either due to miscounting, theft or a combinationof both.

The auditor's review has "revealed numerous internal control weaknesses related to cash controls." However the details of those were not immediately available.

"There was a breakdown in the financial procedures and that needs to be corrected," Breen said.

"As the new mayor of St. John's, I'm going to ensure that it's corrected and I am going to ensure that we have the proper procedures and policies put in place."

The auditor will now take on a detailed review of the "cash handling and reconciliation processes"to ensure no other issues are related to the coding errors. The final report is duenext month.