Audit of the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO)

This is a state performance audit of the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office, covering a two-year period from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2018.

“I am pleased to provide this performance audit of the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office.”

Auditors reviewed whether the office properly handled non-payroll expenses, contracts for goods and services, and employee overtime.

“In this performance audit, we examined BCSO activities related to the administration of its non-payroll expenses, contracting process for goods and services, and staff overtime.”

The sheriff’s office runs the county correctional facility and other public safety services, so taxpayers have an interest in whether its spending and overtime controls work properly.

“BCSO is responsible for operating the Barnstable County Correctional Facility, which includes the Jail and House of Correction and a Communications Center located next to the Joint Base Cape Cod (JBCC)1 in Bourne.”

For an ordinary resident, the main takeaway is that auditors checked key areas involving public money and found that the office met the audit objectives they tested.

“Below is a list of our audit objectives, indicating each question we intended our audit to answer and the conclusion we reached regarding each objective.”

The report does not list corrective actions or recommendations; it says the auditor’s staff discussed the report with the sheriff’s office management.

“My audit staff discussed the contents of this report with management of your office.”

This is a clean result for the areas tested: the audit did not identify significant noncompliance that had to be reported under government auditing standards.

“Our audit revealed no significant instances of noncompliance by BCSO that must be reported under generally accepted government auditing standards.”

A performance audit means auditors looked at whether selected activities were being handled properly, using accepted government auditing standards and evidence.

“We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.”