The University of Evansville’s Department of History is pleased to welcome Craig L. Symonds, PhD, for the annual Thomas C. Fiddick Memorial Lecture.

Symonds, professor emeritus of history at the United States Naval Academy, will present “Lincoln and the Navy in the Civil War” at 7 p.m. Friday, October 26 in Eykamp Hall, Room 251A. His lecture is free and open to the public.

“We are very excited to have Craig Symonds coming, as he is undoubtedly the world’s leading expert on Abraham Lincoln and the Navy in the Civil War,” said James MacLeod, UE professor of history and director of the Thomas C. Fiddick Memorial Lecture. “As 150th anniversary commemorations continue, this is a wonderful opportunity for people in the Tri-State to hear one of the Naval Academy’s most distinguished professors speaking on a topic that he knows so much about. People are always fascinated by Lincoln, but Lincoln’s role as commander-in-chief, especially as commander of the Navy, is one that most people don’t know much about. They will be captivated by Professor Symonds’ lecture.”

Symonds is the first person to win both the Naval Academy’s Excellence in Teaching award (1988) and its Excellence in Research award (1998). He also served as history department chair from 1988 to 1992, and received the Department of the Navy’s Superior Civilian Service medal three times. After retiring in 2005, he returned to the Academy in 2011-12 to serve a year as the Class of 1957 Distinguished Chair of American Naval History.

Symonds is the author or editor of 25 books, including prize-winning biographies of Joseph E. Johnston (1992), Patrick Cleburne (1997), and Franklin Buchanan (1999), as well as The American Heritage History of the Battle of Gettysburg (2001). Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles that Shaped American History (2006) won the Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Prize for Naval History the year it was published. His 2008 book, Lincoln and His Admirals: Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy, and the Civil War, won the Barondess Prize, the Laney Prize, the Lyman Prize, the Lincoln Prize, and the Abraham Lincoln Institute Book Award. Symonds also won the Nevins-Freeman Prize in 2009. His latest work is The Battle of Midway, published by Oxford University Press in October 2011. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland.

Thomas Fiddick, for whom the Fiddick Memorial Lecture is named, served as professor of history at the University of Evansville from 1963 to 2002. In the 39 years he spent at the University, he was a dedicated teacher, a productive scholar, and a tireless fighter in the cause of justice. His untimely death on the day of his retirement in 2002 stunned the entire University of Evansville community, especially his many former students. It was from the former students’ efforts in particular, with the support of Fiddick’s friends and the University, that the annual Thomas C. Fiddick Memorial Lecture was established.

Source: Evansville.edu

Held in Conjunction with Old National Bank Boo at the Zoo

Evansville, IN – Participate in Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden’s 2nd annual Scarecrow Contest, Presented by Monsanto! Create a scarecrow big or small, silly or serious, frightening or friendly! Zoo visitors will vote on their favorite Scarecrow between October 15th & 20th! Scarecrows will be displayed from October 15th – November 1st, 2012.

Being a part of this event is easy! Choose between the following two categories: Family/Individual or Business/Organization. First Place Grand Prize: $250 CASH plus prizes valuing more than $500! Second Place Prize: $50 CASH plus prizes valuing more than $500! Deadline to register: October 13th! Turn in your registration form and Scarecrow this Saturday, October 13th. Registration form and more information are available here.

Mitt Romney no longer trails Barack Obama in the Pew Research Center’s presidential election polling. By about three-to-one, voters say Romney did a better job than Obama in the Oct. 3 debate, and the Republican is now better regarded on most personal dimensions and on most issues than he was in September. Romney is seen as the candidate who has new ideas and is viewed as better able than Obama to improve the jobs situation and reduce the budget deficit.

Fully 66% of registered voters say Romney did the better job in last Wednesday’s debate, compared with just 20% who say Obama did better. A majority (64%) of voters who watched
the debate describe it as mostly informative; just 26% say it was mostly confusing.

In turn, Romney has drawn even with Obama in the presidential race among registered voters (46% to 46%) after trailing by nine points (42% to 51%) in September. Among likely voters, Romney holds a slight 49% to 45% edge over Obama. He trailed by eight points among likely voters last month.

http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/10-8-12%20Political%20Release.pdf

Input Controls:
a. No central point of journal entry control
b. Under a system of batch entry, input would be more accurate
c. Failure in the internal auditor function and reporting protocol. This oversight would have revealed the reconciliation failure.
d. Generally, the independent auditors do their testing procedures during the interims, i.e. testing of systems commence in the eight or nine month of the calendar or fiscal years, if the SBOA would modify their auditing techniques by advancing the those testing procedures, failure in internal controls may be prevented in the future.

BUY MONEY – POLICE (CITY)

a. In order to assist law enforcement, the Buy-Money
Program should adhere to IC 36-1-3 and, accordingly, the Administration needs to draft an ordinance and the Common Council pass to establish the fund.

PARKING METER FEES (CITY)

a. The Administration needs to establish a special fund
The parking meter fees will be directly deposited in accordance with IC 36-9-12-4.

SEPARATION OF BANK ACCOUNTS

a. The Utility funds are being deposited in the City bank
Account. The Administration needs to establish a separate bank accounts for the Utility only.

CONTRACTS (CITY)

a. The audit of SMG has never been performed in
Accordance with the contract between the City and SMG for 2006, and subsequent to 2006, a reviewed financial statement. It appears that Harding Shymanski was engaged to perform. We as the Common Council request a status report on those engagements and, if completed, a full report on the subsistence.

OVERDRAWN CASH BALANCES

a. Various funds are overdrawn during the calendar year
Due to the timing of the receipt of taxes, generally, property tax. The public would believe that we have over-drafted our checking account, but, these funds are comprised in one or two bank accounts. So, fund A has large balances, while Fund B is in the negative, but, the combined amounts are positive. Nevertheless, according to state law, this can NOT happen during the calendar year. As such, the Administration needs to request from the Common Council, at the direction of the Administration, by temporary ordinance, to loan funds from those funds that are un-restricted and not subject to grant provisions, whereby, any loan would be repaid before year’s end.
BANK ACCOUNT RECONCILIATIONS

a. In accordance to Indiana Code 5-13-6-1(e) “All local
Investment officers (Controller) must reconcile at least monthly to their financial institutions” As such, it should be the responsibility of the Internal Auditor to report the failure of the chief financial officer (Controller) to reconcile any and all public funds to the appropriate financial institution and that report should be presented to the President of the Common Council and the Chairman of the Finance Committee without repercussions.

ANNUAL REPORT

a. As specified in the Indiana Code 5-11-1-4(a), the City’s annual report must be posted on Gate-Way by the 1st day of March for the preceding year. The City has failed to file the annual report several times in the past. As such, the Internal Auditor should report to the Common Council and to the SBOA that the annual report has been filed on a timely basis.

PRESCRIBED FORMS

a. The Munis software fails to produce forms No. 208 &
209. These reports are imperative to the proper presentation of the books and records of the City of Evansville. The Common Council directs the Administration to correct the weakness in our software to allow the appropriate forms.

FINANCIAL REPORT OPINION MODICATIONS

a. The Munis software failed to produce the
Transactional detail necessary to verify to the control totals, i.e. the check book total did not match the bank reconciliation. We, the Common Council, at the direction of the Administration, will provide the necessary resources to correct the City’s IT weaknesses.

b. By allowing the general ledger to remain open until
July of 2012, the year-end control total of the published fund balances were affected by transactions in the current period causing the corruption of the data. The Common Council strongly suggest that the previous years ledgers be close promptly after the filing of the annual report. Any and all adjustments should be made in the current periods and reconciled back to those balances.

c. Within the Utility, the financial system was recorded
On the accrual basis of accounting. Although required by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, the Utility must keep their reporting on the cash basis for the purpose of examination. In regards to the IURC, monthly entries should be reviewed and coordinated to convert the cash basis system producing accrual financial statements. Those entries should be reversed on the first day of the month.

INTERNAL CONTROLS OVER MAJOR
PROGRAMS IN ACCORDANCE WITH
OMB CIRCULAR A-133
FEDERAL GRANTS

INTERNAL CONTROLS OVER FINANCIAL
TRANSACTIONS AND REPORTING

a. Although, the SBOA, presented to the City an
Unqualified Opinion as to the adherence to the provisions of the City’s major Federal Grants, the SBOA cited the same weaknesses in the internal controls relative to the accuracy of the City’s financial reporting. As such, the action by the Common Council is reiterated per the above in reference to expected action of the City’s Internal Auditor. However, the SBOA disclaimed in regards to the Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards citing the aforementioned weaknesses.

b. Monitoring of Controls – The SBOA has directed the
Common Council to better understand and develop where necessary controls to assure the compliance thereof. As such, the Common Council should draft an ordinance whereby the Internal Auditor should be responsible to report any violations of those identified controls to the Council. In addition, the Common Council should engage experienced and qualified consultants to monitor and recommend further strengthening of controls.