SHREVEPORT, La. – Just over $1 million in retirement payments have been posted to the wrong Shreveport fire and pension accounts for the past eight and a half years, according to an internal city audit.
Leanis Steward, the city’s internal auditor, released a 7-page report on Friday stating pension payments for 34 retirees were posted to the incorrect pension fund general ledger from September 2017 through December.
Human Resources personnel found the incorrect postings for 26 retirees’ pension payments. An internal audit verified the 26 and found an additional eight. The errors for each retiree spanned from $595 to $82,353.
Correcting the inaccurate postings will result in a net change in pension resources to each fund as follows: Fire will transfer $794,373 and police will transfer $294,544, for a total of $1,088,917.
Steward recommended HR management coordinate with the IT department to determine if the HR system can be configured to allow posting to specific general ledger accounts to prevent future errors. Additionally, worksites and general ledger accounts should be reviewed by designated personnel who are not responsible for entering the information for accuracy before payments are set up.
“Management agrees with the audit finding and recognizes the importance of ensuring that pension-related general ledger postings align accurately with the appropriate worksite assignments to support reliable financial reporting. Management notes that the identified errors occurred prior to the current Human Resources team’s oversight. Since that time, training has already been implemented to strengthen staff understanding of the Human Resources system, with particular emphasis on the purpose and impact of key data fields on financial transactions. Management will continue to ensure that all new and existing employees are properly trained and that retiree records are set up correctly moving forward,” according to a statement from Tamika Ford, supervising senior auditor, that’s included in the audit report.
