Fayette — An audit of Jefferson County’s fiscal year 2012 showed the county had unpaid interfund loans and cash accounts of more than $70,000 that were not recorded in the county’s central accounting system.

In the audit, released Monday, auditors found the county had interfund loans that were outstanding after more than a year.

“Failure of the Board of Supervisors to ensure repayment of these loans is an illegal diversion of legally restricted funds,” the audit states.

An interfund loan is the redirection of funds from one county account to another account for purposes of keeping funds in the black.

Such transfers are routine in county and municipal government, but under state law the transfers must be repaid after a year.

The audit also cited a lack of effective financial management in the preparation of accurate financial statements and said cash accounts of $72,864.93 were not recorded in the county’s centralized accounting records.

In the county’s response to the audit, County Administrator Lorrine Lias wrote that the current county government had inherited some of the current problems, and the board supervisors has solicited the services of a financial advisor to correct the issue of outstanding interfund loans, a task anticipated to be completed by June.

Lias also wrote that the board would solicit the help of a professional firm to ensure accurate financial statements.

Any outstanding data — the cash balances not entered in the central records system — was to be entered into a different accounting system that was more user friendly by Dec. 19, according to the audit.

Lias did not return phone messages Monday and is reportedly scheduled to be out of the office for the remainder of the week. A representative from the board of supervisors said he had not read the audit Monday morning and could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

State Auditor Stacey Pickering said in a news release from his office the audit was designed to identify and correct any financial  and compliance issues within the county.

The audit was completed by Fortenberry and Ballard.