Professor Elam

Monday August 11, 2014

In Texas the Chief Financial Officer in County Government is termed the County Auditor. The Auditor is appointed by the District Judge. Unlike a city, each county department is headed by an elected official. So the County Auditor should be an independent guardian of the public trust.

McAllen and Edinburg are in HIdalgo County. A three month long investigation into the Sheriff's Office there reveals a erious lack of internal control. Internal controls are inplace to prevent fraud and mis use of assets. Reading the report in the paper one can see there is a lack of any control.Frankly I am wondering why it took the Auditor this long to investigate and come to this conclusion. 

This is a problem of both ethics and internal control. We study both in accounting.