by Nicole Bradford
A vulnerability study conducted for the City of Pearland recommends tighter controls on purchasing, inventory management, and fuel use management.
“There was absolutely no indication of anything going on; these were simply vulnerabilities that were identified that once fixed will significantly reduce the city’s risk to fraud,” said Dave Ross, CEO of government consulting firm 65th North Group.
The firm conducted a “proactive” internal control and vulnerability study, the findings of which were presented to the city council in March.
“I’d rather be proactive and find a vulnerability or uncover something rather than 22 years of not catching something,” Mayor Kevin Cole said.
Regular external audits are not effective in identifying vulnerabilities, Ross said.
“There are a lot of purchases made in local government, and there is an awful lot of inventory,” he said. “Sometimes really good people fall under difficult times.”
Vulnerabilities found were “significantly fewer than we found in a lot of organizations,” Ross said.
City staff are implementing recommendations in the 150-page report, City Manager Trent Epperson said.
“We did hire our first finance and compliance administrator to take a lead in that role,” he said. “It’s one thing to have the study and recommendations. It’s another to implement that and you’ve got to apply resources to address those areas.”
