Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund

Internal Controls Over Financial Operations

The Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund, a public benefit corporation, finances purses for certain horse races held in New York State, contributes to equine research through a grant to Cornell University, provides grants to local fairs for racetrack construction and repairs, and provides grants to local agricultural societies for certain types of education programs. The Fund is financed by a portion of the bets placed at State racetracks and off-track-betting corporations, and by fees paid by horse owners participating in certain types of horse races.

We examined the adequacy of the Fund’s system of internal controls over its financial operations, and identified a number of material weaknesses. In particular, the Fund had not established a system of revenue accountability to provide reasonable assurance all revenue owed to the Fund was paid to the Fund. In addition, cash-handling duties were not properly separated to provide reasonable assurance all cash receipts were deposited into the appropriate accounts, and written policies had not been developed for many financial areas of operation. Improvements were also needed in the areas of procurement, equipment control, investment practices, employee time and attendance practices, and Board of Director governance.

For a complete copy of Report 2004-S-56 click here.