Friday, November 13, 2009
Accounting mess
This story sounds like the city's office software is a nightmare. Makes you wonder what problems have NOT been caught. Seems to me officials should buckle down and find a way to fix this - if they have to forgo other services. The brain center's got to function for the body to perform.
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6 comments:
I've worked for several companies that failed in some part due to poor software that they were using to operate. The city should gets this fixed ASAP! It can do wonders when your software is good, and it can kill a business when it is not.
Isn't there anyone in Ark City that can see the folly in this?
The solution to the "losing" of $176,000 in billing to Creekstone is to spend $250,000 on a program? That sure is jumping ahead many,many management steps.
First, who cares what programming language the program is based on or how old it is? C language, which is what Windows is written on was created in 1972. It is a sure thing that the data entry clerks don't know or need to know anything about the programming language to use the program, any more than you need to know C language to write a letter or use Quickbooks.
Second, where is the management and training? Is Creekstone farms such a small player that $176,000 could have missed the accounting reviews and missed all of the audits? That fish stinks. The computer company still exists. Has anyone asked them what the deal is? Maybe a lawsuit would be in order, or was it an operator error?
Third, if a manager thinks that the best solution to a loss of $176,000 over 3 years is to spend an additional $250,000, then I think we have found where the real problem is.
Warren is absolutely correct, but he doesn't go far enough. Bring in the Data Tech guys to do some tough explaining. But also bring in the city employees responsible for running the program, the managers who were charged with reviewing the work and the public accountants who audited the city and gave it a clean bill of health.
I'll bet you can fix this thing in less than 4 hours and it won't cost a dime.
Do you live in the county? "forgo other services"?? We that live in the city limits don't get our money's worth as it is, let alone setting them up to 'forgo' doing their jobs. This is just another indicator as to how poorly the city is run, if it were a private industry and didn't have the GAURANTEED income of taxes, they would have gone broke long, long ag!!
I would like to know if it could be fixed in a couple hours or days, or if it is that the software is too old to do what needs to be done. I am guessing it is the later but maybe not.
"I would like to know if it could be fixed in a couple hours or days, or if it is that the software is too old to do what needs to be done."
First things first. Get to the bottom of the problem before throwing money at it. If the problem is a management or data entry problem, the problem won't go away with new software. There will still be entries and bills that are "lost".
There are necessary human checks and balances in accounting that apparently either weren't in place or were not effective.
If it were a small business and a small bill I would say it might not be a problem.
But something as obvious and large as Creekstone, as big a bill as that, over 3 years?
Someone has some real explaining to do and you can't just blame that kind of problem on "the computer ate my homework".
Want to know what else is missing and where it went? Changing programs erases and hides all of that.
Fixing the problem with the current program and balancing the accounts must be done before any other changes are made. Anyone with even the most basic accounting knowledge would know that.
Not to kick a dead horse, but didn't the 3 amigos prevent the city from updating softwared a couple of years ago? I don't remember why it came up, but I do seem to remember one of them suggesting that some employee write the program.
It's like the idea of not buying new trucks until they burn up (and burn up a few more with it). If it needs to be fixed or replaced it should be done before it costs even more money. And it should be done by somebody that knows what they're doing.
I am a little curious. Now that they have found a little money they have lost, will they put effort into looking for more money that may have been lost?
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