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City auditors find one low‑risk travel control issue in Milwaukee Public Library audit
Summary
City audit of Milwaukee Public Library financial administration found an adequate control environment but one low‑risk finding on travel documentation and approvals; library updated procedures and shared them with staff.
Adrianna Molina, audit manager for the city, presented a financial administration audit of the Milwaukee Public Library to the Finance and Personnel Committee and said the audit concluded the library’s finance function operates within an adequately designed control environment but included a single low‑risk finding related to travel controls.
The finding concerned out‑of‑state travel approvals and expense documentation. Senior auditor Bashekim Baca told the committee the audit identified three instances where out‑of‑state travel requests were not formally approved by the library director as required by the library’s policy, one instance where a reimbursement was submitted 40 days after a conference—exceeding the city’s 15‑day deadline—and one instance where the final hotel invoice was missing.
Molina said the audit’s overall conclusion was: "an adequately designed support, control environment. We only noted 1 low risk audit finding." Baca summarized the recommendation to update the library’s travel policy to clearly state approval authorities and acceptable documentation and to share the updated policy with employees to ensure compliance.
Sarah Ochinski, the library’s finance manager, told the committee the missing approvals were due to a written procedure that had not been updated after the director verbally delegated approval authority to associate and deputy directors. "The director has delegated that authority to her associate directors and her deputy director," Ochinski said, and the library has updated the procedure to reflect the current delegation and clarify acceptable documentation and time frames.
Committee members pressed for assurance the revised steps would prevent recurrence. Ochinski said the library revised its internal process to ensure accounting staff would see travel requests on the front end and that staff must turn reimbursement documentation to the accounting office within seven days to meet the comptroller’s 15‑day filing deadline.
Action: Alderman Scott Speicher moved to place the audit report on file. By unanimous consent, the committee ordered the item placed on file.
