NOTE: Insurance on above property is placed by the Trustees of the various schools, and this Board has no record of the amount of insurance carried.

ASSETS ADDED

Expenditures for permanent improvements, and new construction for 19191922 inclusive:

Alabama Home for Feeble Minded, Tuscaloosa: New construction, dormitory, kitchen and dining hall, power house, ect...

199,589.52

DEPARTMENT OF EXAMINERS OF ACCOUNTS

The following report of the Chief Examiner of Accounts shows the wisdom of the Legislature in placing this department under a responsible head and increasing the force of examiners to a number sufficient to perform the service in an efficient and effective manner.

Many valuable suggestions are made, to which I invite your careful consideration:

Hon. Thos. E. Kilby,

Sir:

Governor.

"Montgomery, Ala., Oct. 26, 1922.

I respectfully submit this report of the work of the Examiners of Public Accounts from Oct. 1, 1918 to Sept. 30, 1919, and of the operations and activities of the Department of Examiners of Accounts from its establishment Oct. 1, 1919 to Sept. 30, 1922.

Prior to the passage and approval of the Act of Sept. 29, 1919 creating the Department of Examiners of Accounts the duties placed on this department were performed by the Examiners of Public Accounts under the direct supervision of the Governor, the Chief Examiner being without power to control or direct the work of the examiners and being clothed with no authority not possessed by the associate examiners except with relation to the docketing and disposition of cases of delinquency in handling the public funds disclosed by the work of the Chief Examiner and his associates. Realizing the numerous advantages to be gained by placing the department under a responsible directing head, not the least of which was relieving the Governor of the multitudinous petty details of the administration and direction of the work, the Legislature at your suggestion established this as a separate department of the State government, placing the Chief Examiner of Accounts in charge of the department, its records and business, and making it his duty under the direction of the Governor to assign the assistant examiners to duty from time to time and generally supervise and control their investigations and examinations. Subsequently, by the Act approved Sept. 30, 1920, provision was made for increasing the force of assistant examiners of accounts. The increased efficiency and effectiveness with which this department, under your direction, has operated to protect and safeguard the interests of the State and the various counties in connection with the collection, safekeeping and disbursement of the public funds has demonstrated the wisdom of your recommendation that the work be placed under the direction of a department head who could give more time and thought to the details necessarily connected with the work of the department than the Chief Executive with his manifold duties and responsibilities could possibly devote thereto.

The enlarged force of assistant examiners of accounts selected by you under the provisions of the Act of 1920 has enabled the examinations and investigations of the books and accounts of the State and county officers, departments and institutions to be made at shorter intervals and with more of the care and attention to detail so essential to correct accounting and the effectual safeguarding of the interests of the State and county in connection with the collection, conservation and disbursement of the public funds.

COLLECTIONS FOR STATE AND COUNTIES

During the period covered by this report we have made a total of 111 examinations and investigations of the books and accounts of State officers, departments, institutions and activities, and 1,337 examinations and investigations of the books and accounts of county officers and institutions (county high schools being classed as county institutions), a total of 1,448 examinations and investigations. As a result of such examinations we have collected for the State treasury the sum of $344,000.57, for the various counties the sum of $532,699.71 and for sundry cities, towns and individuals the sum of $6,803.49, a grand total of $883,503.77 collected as a direct result of the activities of this department. Exhibit "A" hereinafter shows by counties the amounts found due the State, the collections thereon and the status of the balances uncollected. Exhibit "B" shows the same facts with regard to the amounts found due the various counties, while Exhibit "C" gives a recapitulation of the totals shown on Exhibits "A" and "B."

Of the total of $883,503.77 collected by this department the sum of $29,512.55 was collected for the State and a total of $16,321.26 for sundry_counties as a result of demands by mail and otherwise made by the Chief Examiner of Accounts following special investigations conducted by the Chief Examiner personally.

In Exhibit "D" to this report you will find a statement of the irregularities and discrepancies found in the disbursement of county funds by the

Commissioners Courts and Boards of Revenue resulting from the carelessness and indifference with which such courts and boards, in some instances, have discharged their duties with relation to the disbursement of the public funds. The examinations which disclosed these irregularities have without exception resulted in the exercise of greater care and attention of the requirements of law governing such disbursements.

AUDITING CLAIMS AGAINST THE STATE BEFORE PAYMENT

Your Excellency has wisely charged this department with the duty of auditing in advance of your approval for payment all claims against the State arising from the activities of the highway and military departments, all salary and expense vouchers and various and sundry other classes of claims. With the exception of a comparatively small class of these claims which were assigned to one of the assistant examiners, the Chief Examiner of Accounts in addition to his other duties has discharged the new duties so imposed on this department. While, with one exception, no favorable results in dollars and cents saved can be definitely stated this progressive innovation has furnished more thorough and effective protection against improper and illegal as well as wasteful expenditure of the State funds. The exception referred to is the specific saving of the sum of $8,468.19 or 30% of one group of military strike duty bills amounting to $27,451.62. While the saving to the State in this instance was exceptional, approximately the same percentage was saved by deductions and discounts secured on thousands of dollars of other claims of a similar nature. The definite and specific saving to the State from the deductions and discounts secured in the cases referred to above, together with the less tangible but none the less certain favorable results from this innovation of administration so clearly perceptible to one in close contact wtih the disbursement of the State funds, has demonstrated the fact that the change thus instituted was wisely conceived, progressive in its nature and protective in the results attained.

In this connection permit me to say there has been a noticeable reduction in the amount paid out on traveling expense claims as a consequence of your order prohibiting the indiscriminate, excessive and unnecessarily expensive use of Pullman accommodations and taxicabs by minor officers and employees of the State. In many instances such items, since eliminated, constituted ten per cent of the total amount of the claims.

Considering only the definite and tangible results in the way of shortages discovered and collections thereon it has proven its operations to have been eminently profitable to the State and counties, but no well informed person will deny that the most valuable effect of the work of this department is the discouragement and prevention of the misuse and misappropriation of the public revenues, and the equally important incentive to the many honest officials to discharge their duties with thoroughness and efficiency, furnished by careful, accurate, thorough and frequent examinations of their accounts.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LEGISLATION

I submit below a number of suggestions as to legislation which experience has shown to be necessary or advisable to enable this department more effectually to protect and safeguard the interests of the State and the various counties in the collection and disbursement of the public funds.

Official Bonds.

Instances have been disclosed where personal bonds of county officers were accepted with insufficient sureties and others where such bonds have become of no value by reason of financial reverses sustained by the sureties

thereon. To minimize the possibility of losses to the State and county on account of insufficient bonds I recommend the passage of an act requiring all official bonds to be made by duly authorized surety companies.

Official Bonds of Judges of Probate.

Under Sec. 5413 of the Code of 1907 the official bonds of the Judges of Probate are fixed and approved by the Circuit or Supreme Court Judges. The officers required to approve these bonds are without official knowledge, and frequently have little personal knowledge, of the facts a knowledge of which is necessary to enable the officer fixing such bonds to intelligently determine the amount necessary to effectually protect the State and county in each instance. That these bonds may be fixed and determined with a proper knowledge of the probable amount of money to be collected by each officer I recommend that this section be so amended as to require such bonds to be fixed and approved by the State Auditor.

Coal and Iron Ore Tonnage Taxes.

The next revenue law should contain a provision charging the State Auditor with the specific duty of keeping an account, in a book kept for that purpose, with each person, company or corporation engaged in the business of mining coal or iron ore so as to show the tonnage tax paid by each such taxpayer, such account to be kept in a form to show the months for which such license taxes have or have not been paid. Provision should also be made for the imposition of a penalty for delinquency in the payment of this tax sufficiently severe to create respect for the law.

Tax Collector's Cash Book.

I recommend the incorporation in the next revenue law of a provision requiring the tax collector to keep a cash book in a form to be prescribed by the Chief Examiner of Accounts or the State Tax Commission, and requiring the same to be posted and totalled daily and the totals thereon carried forward from day to day. Such a book, properly kept, is absolutely essential to a proper accounting of the tax collector's collections.

Reports from Tax Collectors.

To enable the Department of Education to keep informed as to the promptness with which county tax collectors make settlement with county treasurers of public school funds I recommend that provision be made in the next revenue law for such collectors to furnish the Department of Education with duplicates of the reports now required by law to be made to the State Auditor.

Clerks of the Circuit and Other Courts.

The law should be so changed as to require Clerks of the Circuit Court and all other county officers collecting fees and costs for the State to make monthly settlements with the State Treasurer. At the same time all such officers should be made subject to the same penalty for failure to remit within five days from the first of the month as is now imposed on the Judge of Probate for such delinquency.

Form of Privilege License Blanks.

I believe it would be to the advantage of the State and counties for the Auditor to be required to have the privilege license blanks prepared with a safety stub similar to the form used by the United States Government. I therefore suggest the incorporation of a provision therefor in the next revenue law.

Statements of Receipts and Disbursements by Counties.

I recommend the passage of an Act requiring the Chairman of the Courts of County Commissioners or Boards of Revenue to furnish the De