Summary

The General Appropriations Acts for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 fiscal years included appropriations of approximately $79 and $84 million, respectively, from seven trust funds administered by the State’s judicial offices.  Most of these trust funds are administered by judicial agencies, including the Supreme Court, Justice Administrative Commission, state attorneys, public defenders, and the Guardian Ad Litem program.  Our operational audit of these trust funds for the period July 1, 2005, through March 31, 2007, disclosed the following:

Supreme Court

Finding No. 1:  As of December 2007, the Supreme Court had not completed its annual physical inventory, which began in March 2006 due to problems encountered in converting to a new inventory system.

Finding No. 2:  The Supreme Court’s policy for using cellular telephones did not provide for adequate monitoring of cellular telephone usage.  Also, the Supreme Court did not report to the Internal Revenue Service the value of cellular telephone services as income for employees who did not make an adequate accounting of the business use of their assigned cellular telephones.  

Finding No. 3:  The Supreme Court did not use signed transfer receipts, which would document the transfer of responsibility for the funds from one employee to the other, when receiving and depositing funds in their trust funds.

Finding No. 4:  The Supreme Court did not meet the deadline for filing the Court Education Trust Fund activities report required by Section 25.384(4), Florida Statutes.  The report was 51 days late. 

Justice Administrative Commission, State Attorneys, Public Defenders, and the Guardian Ad Litem Program

Finding No. 5:  The Justice Administrative Commission (JAC) voucher packages did not always contain sufficient documentation to support the payments.

Finding No. 6:  JAC’s policy for using cellular telephones did not provide for adequate monitoring of cellular telephone usage.  Also, JAC did not report to the Internal Revenue Service the value of cellular telephone services as income for employees who did not make an adequate accounting of the business use of their assigned cellular telephones.  

The Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court and the Executive Director of the Justice Administrative Commission responses are included in this report as Appendix A.