Audit  Audit of the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office

In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office (MSO) for the period July 1, 2016 through December 31, 2018. In this performance audit, we reviewed MSO’s activities related to its non-payroll expenses, its inventory of non–generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) fixed assets,¹ its vehicles, its procurement of contracts for goods and services, and its correction officers’ overtime.

Below is a summary of our findings and recommendations, with links to each page listed.

A PDF copy of the audit of the Middlesex Sheriff's Office is available here.

1.    The “Fixed Assets—Acquisition Policy” issued jointly by the Comptroller of the Commonwealth and the Operational Services Division defines non-GAAP fixed assets as follows: “Singular assets (including infrastructure) with the following characteristics: vehicles, equipment, furniture, computer software, and all electrical and computer components with (1) a useful life of more than one year and (2) with an original cost between $1,000 and $49,999[;] Buildings and other infrastructure with an original cost between $1,000 and $99,999[;] Road infrastructure with a cost of less than $99,999 per lane mile for roads and bridges[;] Software costs below $50,000. It is important that software be inventoried for license purposes. Departments are subject to liability if they install non-purchased or non-licensed software.”