HomeMy WebLinkAbout2122-1 2021 County Fair Ticketing and selected areas report ( Final 9-8-21)2021 County Fair – Ticketing and selected areas report #21/22-1 September 2021
2021
2021 County Fair –
Ticketing and selected areas
To request this information in an alternate format, please call (541) 330-4674 or send email to David.Givans@Deschutes.org
Deschutes County,
Oregon
David Givans, CPA, CIA
Deschutes County Internal Auditor
1300 NW Wall St, Suite 200
Bend, OR 97701
(541) 330-4674
David.Givans@Deschutes.org
Audit committee:
Daryl Parrish, Chair - Public member
Jodi Burch – Public Member
Tom Linhares - Public member
Scott Reich - Public member
Summer Sears – Public member
Stan Turel - Public member
Patti Adair, County Commissioner
Charles Fadeley, Justice of the Peace
Lee Randall, Facilities Director
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2021 County Fair – Ticketing and selected areas report #21/22-1 September 2021
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TABLE OF
CONTENTS:
HIGHLIGHTS
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background on Audit …………..……………………………………………………..…….. 1
1.2. Objectives and Scope ………………….………………………………………………….… 1
1.3. Methodology …………………………………….…………………………………………….… 2
1.4. Background on Deschutes County Fair ……………………………………….…. 2-5
2. FINDINGS and OBSERVATIONS
2.1. Ticketing ….……................................………………………………………………….. 5-8
2.2. Money handling ……………………………………………………………..………….... 8-16
2.3. Third party food and beverage concessions …………………….……..…. 16-18
2.4. Contractor ………………………………………………………………………………………. 19
3. MANAGEMENT RESPONSES
Deschutes County Fair & Expo ………………………………………………………... 20-24
Deschutes County Finance …………………………………………………………………... 25
2021 County Fair – Ticketing and selected areas report #21/22-1 September 2021
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HIGHLIGHTS
Why this audit was
performed:
To review the 2021
County Fair for these
selected areas.
What is recommended
Recommendations
include:
• analyzing convenience
fee charges;
• working on approach for
overseeing fair money
handling operation;
• reinforcing proper
transitioning of sellers;
• basing future scheduling
of volunteers on ticket
sales data by hour;
• developing a change
policy;
• reducing change fund
and potential
consolidation of
oversight; and
• providing a receipt book
and a means to process
credit cards.
2021 County Fair – Ticketing and selected areas
The 2021 County Fair is under the management of Deschutes County Fair & Expo. The 2021
County Fair was a re-opening fair since the pandemic started and marks the 101th fair. A
number of new initiatives were anticipated in the areas of tickets and management of the
fair that made it especially important to have an audit.
What was found
The ticketing system provided a robust product to fulfill ticket sales (online and in-person)
for the Fair. Nearly 67% of sales of admission tickets and carnival wristbands occurred
online. A number of minor adjustments were identified and made to the ticketing system
during the initial days of the fair.
Ticketing system (Saffire) costs were not completely covered by convenience fee charges.
Overall, Fair & Expo management’s planning for fiscal controls over money handling went
pretty well. There were observations noted to help further improve the procedures put into
place including:
• improving coordination of money handling support;
• additional training needed for sellers on transitions;
• improving volunteer seller scheduling (with new ticketing data);
• developing a County change fund policy;
• reflecting on whether change funds might be decreased with increased online and
credit card sales; and
• restating accounting for carnival and gate admissions to agree with ticket system
reports.
Oversight of third party food and beverage concessions could be improved.
Deschutes County Internal Audit
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Page 1
1.
Introduction
1.1 BACKGROUND ON AUDIT
Audit Authority:
The County Internal Auditor has authority to initiate audits outside of the workplan for cause. After
discussion with Deschutes County Fair & Expo management, audit committee chair, and County
management determined the audit should be performed for the 2021 County fair. The internal audit
contemplated looking at a new ticketing system, contractor led money handling; and contractor
oversight over third party concessions, which were new for the County Fair.
A number of the observations and recommendations were made during the start of the fair so that
there was some time to address these during the fair.
1.2 OBJECTIVES and SCOPE
Objectives: The objectives were.
1) Review and observe procedures for new ticketing machines and sales oversight.
2) Review and observe procedures for handling monies, change, and deposits.
3) Review and observe oversight over third party food concession sales.
4) Be aware of any issues with compliance with County policy, federal and state regulations and
requirements, as may be applicable for these objectives.
Scope and timing:
The audit commenced July 20, 2021 and continued into August 2021. The County Fair ticket sales
started in early July and went through the end of the Fair on August 1st. The County Fair is accounted
for in Fund 616. The focus was on selected streams of revenues from the Fair. The scope did not
include all revenue sources. Access was provided to the ticketing software system.
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1.3 METHODOLOGY
This statement is
your assurance
that the audit was
performed in
accordance with
professional
standards.
Audit procedures included:
Interviewed and observed County Fair staff, contractors and volunteers on ticket
selling/redemption and money handling practices and procedures during the fair;
Analyzed general fiscal information on the County Fair ;
Analyzed and reconciled ticket sales and third party concession monies;
Inquired about control procedures developed for the money handling and ticket selling;
Reviewed ticketing software documentation and training provided online;
Reviewed and analyzed the ticketing application and associated data.
Reviewed provided documentation on procedures.
Reviewed the prior recommendations on the Deschutes County Fair; and
Reviewed applicable Oregon statutes and Deschutes County Code.
We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient,
appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our
audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings
and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
(2018 Revision of Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States.)
1.4 BACKGROUND ON DESCHUTES COUNTY FAIR
The 2021 Fair when looking at gross revenues for selected types reviewed as part of this audit, appears
to have done very well with overall growth from the 2019 fair of 28%.
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TABLE I –
Selected Fair
revenues
comparison
CHART I –
Composition of
2021 Fair paid
admission
demographics
* Source of estimates: Information from ticketing system for gate receipt and carnival; final carnival closeout; and concession
closeouts. Prior year fair data from County Finance reports.
It is important to remember there were additional costs incurred this year in the ticketing system that
will offset some of the gains seen on revenues from gate receipts and carnival.
Overall, the 2021 fair had strong attendance numbers. The overall demographics (as determined by
ticket type paid) was skewed towards the adult range. Children under 6 were free and were not
tracked during this year’s fair.
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CHART II –
Composition of
2021 Fair paid
admissions
count by day of
week
CHART III –
Composition of
selling
fulfillment for
2021 County Fair
Friday and Saturday attendance are consistently among the highest.
The ticketing for the Fair utilized QR codes assigned to each and every ticket. Once these tickets were
scanned they were no longer valid.
As noted in Chart III, nearly 67% of sales
of admission tickets and carnival
wristbands occurred online.
Only 33% of these sales occurred at the
box office.
Credit cards were used 85% of the time.
In prior fairs, there was offsite sales but
no online fulfillment. This online system
was part of bringing on the new ticketing
software for the fair.
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PICTURE I –
2021 County Fair
Test Admission
Ticket
Tickets utilized large unique QR codes that were easily scannable by a cellular phone application.
2. Findings
and
Observations
The audit included procedures to assess certain areas for the 2021 County Fair. Audit findings result
from incidents of non-compliance with stated procedures and/or departures from prudent operation.
The findings are, by nature, subjective. The audit disclosed certain policies, procedures and practices
that could be improved. The audit was neither designed nor intended to be a detailed study of every
relevant system, procedure or transaction. Accordingly, the opportunities for improvement presented
in the report may not be all-inclusive of areas where improvement may be needed and does not
replace efforts needed to design an effective system of internal control.
A significant deficiency is defined as an internal control deficiency that could adversely affect the
entity’s ability to initiate, record, process, and report financial data consistent with the assertions of
management in the financial statements. The findings noted were not considered significant
deficiencies.
2.1 TICKETING
The Deschutes County Fair & Expo management utilized a new ticketing system for the 2021 Fair. The
County chose Saffire’s system for providing ticket sales. The system provided unique tickets (with QR
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codes) to patrons and accountability for redemptions and monies. Customers could buy tickets
online; at the Fair & Expo box office; or at the gates during the fair. All purchasers received a unique
ticket tied to their purchase and redeemable only once at the gate. The tickets cannot be duplicated.
The ticketing system helped DCFE management assure that occupancy limits could be monitored for
each day of the fair. In addition, the system provides important new data on ticket sales that has
never before been collected.
New ticketing
system provided a
robust product to
fulfill ticket sales.
Ticketing system (Saffire) performed well and provides robust data.
The ticketing system and associated support provided a robust product to fulfill ticket sales (online
and in-person) for the Fair. Fair management had a representative at the beginning of the fair that
helped assure that the systems and setup were ready to perform. Aside from some small tweaks, and
a network outage for credit cards (a banking issue), the system performed well. Data exports available
provide valuable tools to support cash handling; oversight of sales; and ticket redemption. The
system had numerous online tutorials to aid first time volunteers in operating the product. The
system has additional features/products that also could be used to enhance or expand services
provided at Fair & Expo.
Some observations improved operation of ticketing system.
A number of minor adjustments were identified and made to the ticketing system during the initial
days of the fair. These were not significant, but did help in the efficient operation of the system.
These suggestions implemented included:
a. Added age range descriptions to admission tickets to help sellers.
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b. Setup for receipts provided a receipt on all gate sales. This required checking a box with each
seller setup.
This is consistent with County policy (F-11) requiring printed receipts.
c. Setup of each seller as an individual user. This aided in reconciling each user’s sales activity.
d. Extending ticket sales times to anticipate closure of the gates for the day (usually around 9pm).
This was originally set to 8PM.
e. Reviewed and noted a product that had not been set up with a convenience fee charge for
online sales.
f. Discussed the need for additional onsite training for ticket sellers and ticket scanners. Some
online training was accomplished prior to the event.
Ticketing costs not adequately covered by convenience fee.
Ticketing system (Saffire) costs were not completely covered by convenience fee charges. Fair & Expo
management indicated that it was their hope that the convenience fee for online sales would cover
some of the increased costs for the online ticketing system. Costs include website, ticketing system
point of sale rentals, and charges on sales made online. Convenience fees were only assessed on
online sales. Fair & Expo management has been posting these fees with gate and carnival revenue.
Fair management indicated that it was customary in the industry to only charge a convenience fee on
online sales. The setting of a convenience fee of $1 on each product was anticipated to be close to the
costs incurred.
This new technology and the move back to a fair post-pandemic results in some increased costs.
It is not clear yet what all the costs are. Visibility could be improved by separating the convenience fee
from the gate and carnival revenues. Convenience fees are higher for online transactions.
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The concession fees collected were a little over $39 thousand and not sufficient to cover the estimated
ticket system costs of $77 thousand let alone the other ticketing expenses.
It is recommended for fair management to analyze and model whether a change needs to occur in
the convenience fee charged in future fairs.
{As indicated the goal should be to balance the revenues with the cost of the system.}
It is recommended for fair management to split out convenience fee revenue and associated
ticketing costs to improve transparency of the ticketing technology net cost.
2.2 MONEY HANDLING
Overall, Fair & Expo management’s planning for fiscal controls went pretty well. The following
observations are noted to help further improve the procedures put into place.
Coordination of money handling support could be improved.
In the past, County Finance significantly managed the money handling operation for the County fair.
For the 2021 fair, Finance could not be as involved due to the retirement of the lead staff person;
turnover in other key staff; the two year hiatus between fairs; and finance staff committed to their
primary jobs and other projects. The lack of continuity in lead and staffing of these operations
resulted in some confusion over how the operations was going to be staffed. Fair & Expo
management resolved this by contracting for money handling services and reaching out for additional
volunteers. Additional volunteer support was obtained through other County staff and staff from the
County’s bank (First Interstate Bank).
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Contractor for
money handling
provided effective
and efficient
oversight of the
monies.
Finance had established fair cash handling procedures, in prior years, to assure that dual custody of
cash was maintained at all times. Finance staff who routinely staffed the event were well versed on the
procedures but were not available for the 2021 fair.
The contractor hired to provide money handling services was experienced with fair money handling
and provided effective and efficient oversight of the monies. Some added benefits from this
experience were certain efficiencies gained in money handling; new setups with gate sellers; and
collaboration with volunteers at the gates. Certain practices with the gate sellers that cannot be
detailed here, reduced the needed support in the financial back office operations. This was important
since the staffing available was limited.
Non-finance staff volunteers (and the County’s bank) do not always understand why their participation
is important or what they should be looking for. The contractor was in charge of the process and
volunteers could benefit from a better understanding of cash controls.
There was a perceived risk of having insufficient and inconsistent staffing to oversee the money
handling operation. Additionally, cash handling procedures were not written in a way to be taken up
by an outside party. However, the contractor was able to provide updated procedures based on their
experience with other fairs that resulted in more efficient cash management.
It is recommended for Fair & Expo to work on a more consistent approach to overseeing the fair
money handling operation.
It is recommended for Fair & Expo management to formalize written procedures over financial areas
of the County Fair (including change, gate receipts, and concessions).
{The County Internal Auditor created a listing of observed procedures that should help in the creation
of procedures.}
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It is recommended for the Fair & Expo management and the contractor consider reviewing some
aspects of money handling with volunteers on how their presence is an important control over the
cash being safeguarded.
Seller overages and shortages indicates additional training needed for seller
transitions.
The cash handling is monitored for each seller. Cash over or short from expected were higher than
expected for certain sellers but average out over the day and the fair. The maximum difference was
an $889 shortage (this was offset by a similarly large overage). These variances appears to have
occurred due to transitions of selling between sellers in the early days of the fair and not segregating
their activities by seller. Sellers were supposed to retain their own bank till for their entire shift. Other
seller activity or use of another’s bank could explain the overages and shortages.
Over the entire fair the cash over/short was less than a thousand dollars. This is fairly reasonable but
could be better.
The ticketing system and the system processes were to restrict a cash drawer and that responsibility
to each seller. Cash amounts deposited that do not agree with reported cash sales in the system by
seller could be related to these transitions with other sellers. Credit card transactions are not
monitored in the same way.
Ticket sellers received minimal training in advance (online videos) and some direct training to the
initial sellers on the initial days of the fair. Gate captains provided further trainings as the fair went on
or if there were questions.
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It is recommended we reinforce with the gate supervisors and sellers the importance of proper
transitioning as sellers are relieved by any other seller.
It is recommended for all sellers to stay in control of their own bank and not allow other sellers to
use it.
The scheduling of volunteer sellers and ticket takers could be improved.
The County Fair utilizes volunteer sellers and ticket takers from the Redmond Rotary. The schedule
developed for the 2021 Fair was fairly similar across the fair even though significant increases in
attendance were anticipated for Friday and Saturday and for most afternoons. Impacting the overall
system was the use of a ticketing system where a ticket was issued for each customer for each day.
However, the online sales resulted in more tickets sold in advance and only needing to be redeemed.
Sixty-seven percent (67%) of the sales occurred online.
Though there is anecdotal evidence, there hasn’t been before now detailed data by hour of selling
volumes by gate.
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CHART IV –
2021 County Fair
Main gate
transaction
trends versus
seller counts
(actual and
scheduled)
Source: Seller counts and transaction counts from ticketing system; Scheduled sellers from schedules.
The sellers were able to respond to increases in demand by activating more sellers. At times, the main
gate had up to seven sellers. However, on the busiest days and times (Friday and Saturday
afternoons) they only had a maximum of six sellers. They often used gate captains to fill in as demand
picked up. On some of the corresponding lighter times and at the slower carnival and north gates
there were sellers scheduled that perhaps weren’t used to their fullest.
As seen in Chart IV above, scheduled sellers (yellow line) were fairly consistent for all days except
Sunday, where the schedule was reduced. Sales volumes (columns) routinely peak in the afternoons
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except for Sunday. Active sellers (blue line) were generally in excess of scheduled due to gate captains
that could jump in and sell when needed. Afternoon peaks could have used additional staffing on
Friday and Saturday. This kind of data will help in planning the schedule for gate sellers to better align
with the anticipated flow of customers. The ticket redemption data would likely also be helpful in
planning future schedules for ticket takers (scanners) as well.
In the absence of sufficient staffing, customers may experience increased lines and frustration from
long lines. It also was observed that for the sellers and ticket takers that were present, the customers
were not efficiently moved to appropriate lines. Rotary didn't appear to be taking an active role in
balancing the load between sellers at the gates.
It is recommended for future scheduling of the gate sellers and ticket takers to be based on
historical customer loading at the gates over date and time.
It is recommended for Fair management and Rotary to address proactive customer flow
management for selling and ticket redemption to better accommodate the anticipated rushes that
occur by gate and by hour.
County lacks a change fund policy.
County departments regularly receive authority from the Board of County Commissioners to hold
change monies in their department. County Finance provided significant change funds to the 2021
County Fair without getting a resolution approved from the Board. There was some confusion
whether County Policy F-14 provided Finance with the authority.
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County policies do
not address
change funds.
County policy (F-14) talks to Finance overseeing banking authority, but is silent on their authority to
approve these change monies to be held in the department. It also doesn’t seem necessary to have a
public discussion on these moves of monies that could be the target of theft.
A change fund is a set amount of money used by a department to make change for customers who
are purchasing goods or services. The monies should be safeguarded from misuse and theft.
The County has a petty cash policy (F-8) but not a policy directly discussing change cash.
The change funds came from a disbursement through the County’s disbursement workflows. The
accounting system provides visibility and authorization for such disbursements. The department is
responsible for the custody and protection of the monies until returned.
It is recommended for Finance to develop a change policy (possibly through an amendment to the petty
cash policy F-8) to address the requirements for change cash issuance and its accountability.
Overall, 85% of
sales were by
credit card.
Change funds might decrease with increased online and credit card sales.
The 2021 County Fair had significantly online and credit card sales activities. Credit cards sales at the
gate account for over fifty four percent (54%) of the dollars. This is a significant increase over the thirty
six percent (36%) seen at the 2019 fair. In addition, the County operated food & beverage operation
has seen improvements in credit card usage. Food and beverage separately manage their change and
cash handling operations. If they worked together, they might be able to further reduce change funds
needed.
Change funds were reduced by about 21% from the 2019 County Fair. This reduction from historical
levels was in part due to perceived impacts of moving sales online.
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Customers are using credit cards more frequently. The data from the new website and ticketing
system can provide additional data on trends in cash sales. Cash used for change could likely be
reduced.
Obtaining and caretaking for greater change funds than is needed creates additional risk.
Consolidating oversight of the change funds might streamline some of the cash handling risks.
It is recommended for Fair & Expo management consider how much it can further reduce their
change fund for the next fair and whether it could consolidate some of the oversight and needs of
the food and beverage operation.
Accounting for carnival and gate admissions should be restated to agree with
ticket system reports.
Initial accounting for the carnival understates the revenues by around $170,000. Gate admissions was
similarly overstated. This is due to use of deposits for reporting the breakdown between these areas.
Fair & Expo staff use deposit information for accounting as it is readily available. This is not as good as
the underlying reporting available from the ticketing system. However, during the fair credit card
revenues can deposit on days differently than they show up in reporting. This makes reconciling by
day during the fair problematic.
Staff did not reconcile ticketing system yet with the cash deposits. During the audit, the amounts were
reconciled within a reasonable amount for a specific day and for the entire fair. Monies were
identified that were still expected to be collected from Saffire.
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It isn’t quite clear how the overall deposit information resulted in the misstatement of revenues by
object. Re-classing the sales (between gate admissions and carnival) to record the appropriate
amounts will help in accurately reporting results of the Fair. Fair results are continually relied on for
budgeting and projections.
It is recommended for Fair and Expo management to consider re-classing sales (between carnival
and gate admissions) to more accurately reflect the accounting.
2.3 THIRD PARTY FOOD AND BEVERAGE CONCESSIONS
Third party food
and beverage
vendors are hired
by Fair & Expo to
provide more food
and beverage
options at the fair.
Oversight of third party food and beverage concessions could be improved.
Fair & Expo management changed the oversight of the third party food & beverage vendors to be
handled by the contractor that handled cash monies and the contractor that managed the vendors.
Monitoring food and beverage vendor sales is important as Fair & Expo receives a percentage of the
sales reported.
No written procedures were provided on the associated duties and procedures to take place.
A couple of areas were noted that could be improved, including
• Deschutes County receipt book was not available to contractor to receipt monies received from
the third party food & beverage vendors. County policy (9-1999-075) requires Department
specific pre-numbered duplicate receipts be used.
• The contractor for auditing food and beverage did not have the ability to collect monies via
credit card. The department should consider whether they should accept credit cards since
these come with an added fee.
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• Reports did not notate the sales that were collected for Tuesday sales that occurred. They were
notated but not detailed out.
• One vendor indicated they didn’t have an appropriate register for the collecting sales
information. Fair & Expo had registers but the contractors did not enforce this rule.
• Some vendors did not have registers that used created traditional z tapes and instead provided
online reports.
With these controls not in place, there can be a lack of controls over the associated sales. This might
result in under-reported sales and less shared revenue for Fair & Expo.
It is recommended for Fair & Expo to plan and provide a receipt book and a means to process credit
cards if they are allowed.
It is recommended for the concession balancing spreadsheet be edited to include potential Tuesday
sales.
It is recommended for the contractors to adhere to the register rules without exception.
Technology advances may provide additional options to control food and
beverage sales.
Controls over food vendors rely on trying to have control over their sales registers. Given the cash
basis business there may be some sales that may not be recorded.
With cash sales there will always be a risk of unreported or under-reported sales.
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CHART V –
2021 Fair: Trend
in admissions
vs. third party
food &
beverage
concession
gross revenues
reported.
The following chart (Chart V) was developed to see if reported daily third party food and beverage
revenues moved along with admissions as would be expected. Overall, it appears that gross revenues
for food and beverage was correlated with admissions. It cannot be determined if all sales were
reported.
Technology advances are moving in the direction of allowing control of all cash used at the fair. With
the advent of new technology, a RFID chip can be used to load money and control all sales made with
vendors for food & beverage. This would come with additional costs and practices that would need to
be explored.
It is recommended for the Fair & Expo management to consider whether implementing a control
over all food and beverage sales (and the associated control benefit) outweighs the costs for setting
up the system and whether this brings other potential benefits.
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2.4 CONTRACTOR
Contract with new contractor for handling monies and third party food and
beverage concessions could have been improved.
The contractor was hired using the standard agreement used for many fair contracts. The contract
waived much of the insurance coverages and did not include appropriate bonding coverage for the
handling of monies. Legal Counsel had not reviewed this specific contract and nor had Risk
Management reviewed insurance and bonding requirements.
The contractor’s responsibilities replace the County's finance department’s role (in prior years) and
handling significant cash, could arguably be a significantly higher risk. Bonding generally is required
to cover the highest level of monies under custody.
Fair & Expo in response to raised concern obtained a background check for the contractor as well as
obtained a $100,000 dishonesty bond.
Many vendors for County Fair fall under usage of a prescribed agreement form approved by County
Counsel. However, most of those are not as financially impactful as this particular contractor.
It is recommended for the County to use an expanded contract form for a contractor used for
handling monies and include a background check, Legal Counsel review, Risk Management review,
and appropriate bonding.
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3. Management responses
Deschutes
County Fair &
Expo Director
Geoff Hinds
DATE: September 7, 2021
TO: David Givans, County Internal Auditor
FROM: Geoff Hinds; Director, Fair & Expo
CC: Tom Anderson, County Administrator
Nick Lelack, County Administrator
SUBJECT: Response to 2021 County Fair Audit – Ticketing and selected areas report #21/22-1
• It is recommended for fair management to analyze and model whether a change needs to occur
in the convenience fee charged in future fairs. {As indicated the goal should be to balance the
revenues with the cost of the system.}
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; the operational cost of the new
ticketing system will be taken into account during the FY 22 and future budgeting process. It is possible that
increasing ticketing fee’s to cover the full cost of the system may create a higher than average/reasonable fee,
and create negative consumer response; if so the expense of the new ticketing system may need to be
supplemented through other budget means.
• It is recommended for fair management to split out convenience fee revenue and associated
ticketing costs to improve transparency of the ticketing technology net cost.
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Fair & Expo
comments,
continued
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; as part of the FY 22 budget a new
“Fee” class will be proposed for adoption. This new Fee class will be for the absorption of
Convenience/Ticketing fees.
• It is recommended for Fair & Expo to work on a more consistent approach to overseeing the fair
money handling operation.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; Fair & Expo will work proactively
with Deschutes County Finance to find a consistent, workable model for future Fairs. Initial conversations
indicate that this may include a continued hybrid model, of utilizing an outside contractor in tandem with
County staff for each annual County Fair & Rodeo.
• It is recommended for Fair & Expo management to formalize written procedures over financial
areas of the County Fair (including change, gate receipts, and concessions). {The County Internal
Auditor created a listing of observed procedures that should help in the creation of procedures.}
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; Fair & Expo will create and adopt
a written financial procedures process for the annual County Fair. This will include written process for, change,
gate receipts, and concessions.
• It is recommended for the Fair & Expo management and the contractor consider reviewing some
aspects of money handling with volunteers on how their presence is an important control over
the cash being safeguarded.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; prior to the annual fair written
cash handling, and gate receipt process’ will be provided to all staff and volunteers for review. Where possible,
prior to Fair a training/orientation will be conducted by Fair management and/or Contractor to provide an
overview of the process.
• It is recommended we reinforce with the gate supervisors and sellers the importance of proper
transitioning as sellers are relieved by any other seller.
2021 County Fair – Ticketing and selected areas report #21/22-1 September 2021
2021
Page 22
Fair & Expo
comments,
continued
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; additional training will be
provided to gate supervisors and ticket sellers regarding proper procedures for opening and closing of each
sales location, and for the transitioning of a seller at each sales location.
• It is recommended for all sellers to stay in control of their own bank and not allow other sellers
to use it.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; additional training will be
provided to gate supervisors and ticket sellers, and each seller will be responsible for their own cash
bank. Close out/transition procedures will be clearly defined for the transition between sellers at a single sales
terminal, these procedures will not allow for the use of a shared terminal or cash bank.
• It is recommended for future scheduling of the gate sellers and ticket takers to be based on
historical customer loading at the gates over date and time.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; with additional data from the use
of the Saffire ticketing system at the 2021 Fair & Rodeo, Fair management will work with Rotary or other
ticketing staff or volunteers to adjust/increase scheduling based on historic peak periods, and to reduce staff
during periods of lesser sales volume.
• It is recommended for Fair management and Rotary to address proactive customer flow
management for selling and ticket redemption to better accommodate the anticipated rushes
that occur by gate and by hour.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken with additional data from the use
of the Saffire ticketing system at the 2021 Fair & Rodeo, Fair management will work with Rotary or other
ticketing staff or volunteers to adjust/increase scheduling based on historic peak periods, and to reduce staff
during periods of lesser ticket redemptions.
• It is recommended for Finance to develop a change policy (possibly through an amendment to
the petty cash policy F-8) to address the requirements for change cash issuance and its
accountability.
N/A – See Finance response
2021 County Fair – Ticketing and selected areas report #21/22-1 September 2021
2021
Page 23
Fair & Expo
comments,
continued
• It is recommended for Fair & Expo management consider how much it can further reduce their
change fund for the next fair and whether it could consolidate some of the oversight and needs
of the food and beverage operation.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; Fair & Expo management will
work with Finance and banking staff to determine further reduced amounts of Cash to be held on grounds
during each preceding fair & Rodeo. As Credit Card and online sales continue to increase, it is estimated that
this amount (cash) could further decrease each year.
• It is recommended for Fair and Expo management to consider re-classing sales (between carnival
and gate admissions) to more accurately reflect the accounting.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; Fair & Expo will re-class the sales
between Admissions and Carnival to accurately reflect the earned revenue for each category.
• It is recommended for Fair & Expo to plan and provide a receipt book and a means to process
credit cards if they are allowed.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; Fair & Expo will order Fair &
Rodeo specific receipt books for use during the annual Fair & Rodeo; these receipt books will be part of the
written established procedure. Additionally, a credit card processing terminal will be utilized for future “Check-
Out” of vendors during Fair close-out.
• It is recommended for the concession balancing spreadsheet be edited to include potential
Tuesday sales.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; Fair & Expo management and/or
Contractor will amend the balancing spreadsheet to ensure that it includes a separate column for any/all days
of sales including but not limited to Tuesday.
• It is recommended for the contractors to adhere to the register rules without exception.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; Fair & Expo will require all
vendors to adhere to register rules without exception. Fair & Expo may acquire additional registers or sales
2021 County Fair – Ticketing and selected areas report #21/22-1 September 2021
2021
Page 24
Fair & Expo
comments,
continued
terminals that may be utilized by vendors who lack the appropriate equipment, there may be a charge for this
service.
• It is recommended for the Fair & Expo management to consider whether implementing a control
over all food and beverage sales (and the associated control benefit) outweighs the costs for
setting up the system and whether this brings other potential benefits.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; Fair & Expo management will
spend time this fall researching Coordinated Point of Sale systems to track all sales on grounds; and determine
if the benefit outweighs the expense at this time. If these systems do not appear to be financially prudent at
this time, management will continue to conduct annual research for future years.
• It is recommended for the County to use an expanded contract form for a contractor used for
handling monies and include a background check, Legal Counsel review, Risk Management
review, and appropriate bonding.
We agree with the auditors’ comments, and the following action will be taken; Fair & Expo will work with Legal
and Risk management on the development of an agreement/expanded contract form to be utilized for any/all
contractors who will be handling cash. This will include but not be limited to background checks and bonding,
at levels determined by Legal or Risk Management.
2021 County Fair – Ticketing and selected areas report #21/22-1 September 2021
2021
Page 25
Deschutes
County
Treasurer and
Chief Financial
Officer,
Greg Munn
DATE: September 7, 2021
TO: David Givans, County Internal Auditor
FROM: Greg Munn, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer
CC: Tom Anderson, County Administrator
Nick Lelack, County Administrator
SUBJECT: Response to 2021 County Fair Audit – Ticketing and selected areas report #21/22-1
1. It is recommended for Finance to develop a change policy (possibly through an amendment to
the petty cash policy F-8) to address the requirements for change cash issuance and its
accountability.
Agree that the current policies should be reviewed for possible modification.
{End of Report}
DESCHUTES COUNTY FINANCE DEPARTMENT
Greg Munn, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer
2021 County Fair – Ticketing and selected areas report #21/22-1 September 2021
2021
Page 26
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