Baltimore City Recreation and Parks response on improving revenue accounting procedures (from city auditor's letter re 2012 audit)

To improve the accounting for all revenues, we have taken the following actions:

First, we reviewed and updated the revenues’ charts of accounts provided to the Department of Recreation and Parks’ Cashier’s office. The Cashier’s office is the final determinant of the selected revenue account.

Second, a short retraining and guidance was provided to the Cashier on the use of the chart of accounts and how to identify the correct and incorrect accounts submitted by program managers with their deposits.

Third, we have requested a meeting with members of the Bureau of Accounting and Payroll Services (BAPS) to identify the unusual or incorrect account structure that uses the Natural 600000 as a revenue account. Once identified, we will request that these accounts be disabled or eliminated.

Fourth, while at BAPS, we will discuss the possibility of creating a new family of accounts to record business generated revenues from the special facilities and permit activities. These revenues are currently being recorded in the ‘local/miscellaneous’ grant account.