Fulton County will interview applicants to fill the vacant job of county accountant next week, four months after the first person to hold the position resigned on short notice.
The County Board might have to finish a county budget this fall for the next fiscal year not only with a new accountant, but with a new county administrator as well, or one not yet chosen.
After the board created the accountant position in December, Greg Garrett held it for only one month before he resigned in February to take a position with Western Illinois University. Board Chairman George Hall said he and the board's personnel-legislative and executive committees would discuss whether to replace Garrett.
That decision has been made "at least to the point where we seek applications and see what talent is out there," County Administrator Mike Hays said Monday.
The accountant would help the county administrator prepare fiscal year budgets under a more centralized approach in which elected department heads submit their department requests to the administrator.
That was the job description the board produced in December, when Hall also was elected board chairman and said his goal is to cut the county's expected $1 million budget deficit by half in fiscal year 2012, which begins Dec. 1.
Yet even as the process to choose a new accountant begins, and the first work stages for the next budget are under way, the status of the current county administrator has become uncertain.
Last month the board, acting on a motion from the executive committee that Hall oversees, voted not to exercise a two-year extension of Hays' contract that expires in September. An amendment to the motion, however, calls on the board to pursue new contract negotiations with Hays.
Hays said seven of 12 total applicants for the accountant's job were selected for further interviews. One has since dropped out, and the remaining six will be interviewed over two days next week.
Michael Smothers can be reached at 686-3114 or news@pjstar.com.
A PERTH accountant has been charged with 130 counts of gaining a benefit by fraud after allegedly making false loan applications totalling millions of dollars.
Police said the 41-year-old man from Menora in Perth's inner north ran an accounting business and used a funding company to arrange loans for clients to pay their professional fees and insurance premiums.
They said that in May 2009 the man began submitting loan applications based on fake invoices, using his clients' business details without their knowledge and directing the funds to his own accounts.
By June 2010 the man began defaulting on repayments of the loans, which included 130 separate loan applications, with outstanding loans of almost $4.8 million, police said.
The man was charged yesterday with 130 counts of gaining a benefit by fraud and will appear in the Perth Magistrates Court on July 14.
A 41-year-old Menora man has been charged with 130 counts of fraud after he allegedly used the business details of his clients to apply for at least $4.8 million in loans.
The man was running an accounting business in Perth that used a funding company to arrange loans for clients to pay professional fees and insurance premiums.
Police allege he began submitting loan applications based on fake invoices in May 2009, using the business details of his clients and directing the funds to his own accounts.
The man started to default on the loan repayments in June 2010, after he had submitted 130 loan applications and owed almost $4.8 million.
Police yesterday charged the man with 130 counts of gaining benefit by fraud.
He is due to appear in Perth Magistrate's Court on Thursday July 14.
A Perth accountant has been charged with 130 counts of fraud. Source: HWT Image Library
A PERTH accountant has been charged with 130 counts of gaining a benefit by fraud after allegedly making false loan applications totalling nearly $5m.
Police said the 41-year-old man from Menora in Perth's inner north ran an accounting business and used a funding company to arrange loans for clients to pay their professional fees and insurance premiums.
They said that in May 2009 the man began submitting loan applications based on fake invoices, using his clients' business details without their knowledge and directing the funds to his own accounts.
By June 2010 the man began defaulting on repayments of the loans, which included 130 separate loan applications, with outstanding loans of almost $4.8 million, police said.
The man was charged on Tuesday with 130 counts of gaining a benefit by fraud and will appear in the Perth Magistrates Court on July 14.
Ajumako ? Despite efforts put in place by the late Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, former Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, to rid the government payroll of ghost names and other forms of malpractices, the mafia group behind the scam is still operating big time behind the scenes.
Reports reaching The Chronicle from the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam (AEE) District Assembly in the Central Region indicate that a mafia group, working with their collaborators at the Controller and Accountant General's Department in Accra, has succeeded in siphoning thousands of Ghana Cedis from the state coffers.
The Assembly is now in a state of panic, following the discovery of the operations.
The perpetrators, numbering over twenty, are employees of the various departments of the Assembly, who have been meeting on a regular basis to plan how they could amass wealth that would sustain them for the rest of their lives.
They have, therefore, contracted the services of one Mr. Sarfo, an Accountant at the Agric Department at Ajumako, who has succeeded in inflating the salaries of the mafia group, to enable them draw more money from the government chest.
Among the mafia group are John Kwabu, a Messenger at the Registrar Department of the Assembly, one Gifty, a former Secretary to the District National Youth Employment Program (NYEP) but now working with the Assembly, Effeh, who is a Secretary at the Works Department of the Assembly, Kwakye, also a messenger at the Assembly, and one Christy, who works at the Rural Enterprise Department of the Assembly.
Others include Kwaku Mensah, a driver to the District Chief Executive, Light Koomson, Atto Tutus, also a driver of the District Finance Officer (DFO) at the Assembly, Kofi Frimpong, a.k.a. Ntroba, a driver at the Works Department of the Assembly, Madam Florence, and Kofi Fosu, the ring leader, who introduced the members of the group to Mr. Sarfo.
Investigations conducted by The Chronicle revealed that Mr. Sarfo was highly connected to some officials at the Controller and Accountant General's Department and, therefore, succeeded in executing the task given him, through the assistance of his cohorts at the Controller and Accountant General's Department. The Chronicle learnt that Mr. Sarfo has been in that business for over five years.
Salaries of the 'mafia' network were back-dated for six months.
Pieces of information picked by this paper revealed that all the arrears owed members of the network had been paid by the Controller and Accountant General's Department.
Investigations at the Assembly revealed that the salaries of all drivers at the Assembly fall within GH ¢250 to GH ¢350, depending on one's qualification and experience.
Additionally, Secretaries (Typists) are pegged at between GH ¢250 and GH ¢400, depending on one's qualification and experience, whilst labourers receive between GH ¢120 and GH ¢180, depending on one's experience.
However, The Chronicle learnt that the DCE's driver, whose salary falls within the structure of GH ¢250 and to GH ¢350, now receives GH ¢3,100, whilst Effeh, a Secretary at the Works Department of the Assembly, whose salary falls within the range of GH ¢250 and GH ¢400, now receives GH ¢1,800.
Kwakye, a labourer, whose salary falls between GH ¢120 and GH ¢180, now receives GH ¢1,200. With their fortunes changed overnight, members of the network were living comfortably until luck eluded them.
An officer at the District Assembly, who suspected the sudden change in the lifestyle of the aforementioned names, started looking for clues. This led to the discovery of the anomaly on the pay slips of members of the 'mafia' network.
According to inside sources at the Assembly, the officer reported the matter to the police, leading to the arrest of all members of the network and the ringleader a fortnight ago.
The Chronicle is reliable informed that Mr. Sarfo was on Wednesday, June 8, 2011, sent to court to face the law, and remanded into police custody for further investigations.
Knowing the implications of the crime on the Assembly's image, the District Finance Officer, Mr. Pobby, and the District Coordinating Director, P. K. Asamoah, went to the rescue of the other members of the 'mafia' network by bailing them.
Information picked on the ground indicated that the Assembly was trying as much as possible to withdraw the case from the police station and settle it amicably, without letting the general public know about the heinous crime.
There is also a conspiracy to cover up the crime and prevent the perpetrators from facing the wrath of the law.
Information available to The Chronicle indicates that on Tuesday, June 14, 2011, the DCE, Light Koomson, called a meeting, where he warned all members of the Assembly to remain tight-lipped over the issue.
They were also to write a letter to his office, expressing their support to the suspects, and prevent them from being sacked, but rather be made to refund the monies into government chest.
The Chronicle could, however, not confirm this information from the DCE, who cut the phone line when this reporter tried to verify the information from him, because, according to him, he was attending a workshop at Koforidua.
Attempts to get official confirmation from the District Police office proved futile. The head of the CID, Chief Inspector Broni, who is handling the case, refused to talk on the issue when this reporter reached him on phone, after failing to get him in his office.
The District Coordinating Director, P. K. Asamoah, however, confirmed the story, but refused to give further details. "This is a departmental issue, and I wouldn't like to talk more about it, since the matter is already in the hands of the police," he noted.
According to him, the Assembly, after discovering the rot, had written several letters to the appropriate bodies to rectify the anomaly. The AEE District Assembly is well known for the 'covering up' of corrupt practices.
Immediately the National Democratic Congress (NDC) took over the reins of government, the former Finance Officer at the Assembly, Budu Smith, forged the signature of the DCE for fuel, valued at thousands of new Ghana cedis. But, when he was caught, he pleaded for forgiveness, and nothing was heard of the case again.
This infuriated the youth of the town to demonstrate against the decision of the DCE, yet no attempt was made to get him to refund the money. He was later transferred to Breman Essikum, where he has been working as a finance officer.
The District Coordinator of the National youth employment Programme (NYEP), Andrews Kojo Dodoo, was also found guilty of pocketing allowances of beneficiaries working under the programme.
He has been sacked, but was told to refund the monies to the beneficiaries. Till date, those monies, worth GH ¢7,400 have still not been paid.
* Warren County Board of Supervisors, Finance and Personnel committees, Wednesday.
Top Story
* Supervisors discussed amending policies regarding salary increases after a debate over paying a higher salary to a new junior accountant who was hired by the county Treasurer's Office. The new employee will make about $2,000 more than the person being replaced, and Deputy Treasurer Robert Lynch said the new employee is a certified public accountant with higher qualifications. Warrensburg Supervisor Kevin Geraghty, the county's budget officer, said he was "troubled" that the county was giving out pay increases as it faces budget problems.
Other news
* The county reached agreement with the Sheriff's Lieutenant Collective Bargaining Unit on a new two-year labor contract. The union represents three lieutenants with the county Sheriff's Office, who will get 1 to 1.3 percent raises and agreed to concessions on health insurance coverage.
* Supervisors decided to hold off on a request by the county Treasurer's Office to use $6,600 in occupancy tax surplus to create a system to put county tax records online. Other counties, including Washington and Saratoga counties, have this information online already, Treasurer Frank O'Keefe said. O'Keefe suggested occupancy tax money be used because his office administers occupancy tax payments.
* County supervisors will have to redo the process to create a local law that limits funeral protests because the legal notice about the law did not run as required in The Post-Star. The error was on the newspaper's part.
The Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants celebrated its 100th anniversary Friday at a luncheon that paid tribute to a profession that has evolved significantly in recent decades.
The biggest change has been the proliferation of government regulation, said Norman R. Kerth, who was a practicing accountant until his retirement in 1982. Kerth, who at 91 years of age remembers using an adding machine during his years of practice, is one of the Society's oldest living past presidents. He shares that honor with J.M. Fried Jr., also 91.
Fried said Friday that accountants "used to use our own judgement and common sense" when sorting through complicated tax issues. Heightened government regulation has made tax work more complex and has taken away some of the individual judgements accountants used to make, he said.
As a result, "I don't think (accounting) is as much fun," Fried said with a chuckle.
Kerth and Fried were among more than 200 accountants from around Louisiana present at the New Orleans luncheon, which took place as part of the Society's Centennial Annual Convention. More than a dozen past presidents and past executive directors of the group were in attendance.
"For (being) 100 years old, the Society is in great shape," said outgoing president Robert S. Angelico. "Our best is yet to come."
But for all the changes the profession has seen, some things remain the same. Incoming president Thomas A. Cotten, during his acceptance speech, held up his grandfather's accounting ledger from 1920, which inventoried the debits and credits of different customers.
"You think a lot has changed, but it hasn't," Cotten said. "We're still doing debits and credits. What really has changed is the speed at which (information) travels."
Tommie A. Vassel, who was the Society's first black president from 2006 to 2007, said technology has impacted the profession.
"Through technology, we're able to do a lot more a lot faster," said Vassel, who operates Global Profit Strategies, a management consulting firm in New Orleans. "It certainly has made it easier to do the job and we're able to do it more efficiently."
Ralph C. Cox Jr., managing member of Bourgeois Bennett LLC, said the profession has also greatly expanded the services it provides beyond the traditional areas of auditing, accounting and tax.
"CPAs now are doing a lot more," said Cox, who cited business valuation, consulting and investment services as being among the new services accountants are providing. Cox served as president of the Society from 1995 to 1996.
The Society presented awards to five of its members at the luncheon. Debra White Lockwood received the group's Distinguished Public Service Award. David L. Manry of the University of New Orleans received the Lifetime Achievement in Accounting Education. Jim Exnicios received the Society's Special Recognition Award. Bill Potter was awarded the Life Membership Award. And Bob Perez received the Outstanding CPE Discussion Leader Award.
Friday's lunch was held at Arnaud's Restaurant. The Society's convention runs through Sunday and is being held at the Hotel Monteleone.
Kimberly Quillen can be reached at kquillen@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3416.
