Shire audit exposes $242K double payment blunder and other failures (Feb 2026)

 

 

By Rashelle Predovnik

A DAMNING shire audit has uncovered a $242,521 duplicate payment, missing financial records, weak cyber security, years of unresolved control failures and serious fraud risks at the Shire of Toodyay, the current administration says it is taking steps to fix.

The 2024-25 audit’s financial management report was formally sent to Local Government Minister Hannah Beasley and it identified some significant governance failures, that auditors say have been recurring since 2021.

Significant findings:

One serious finding revealed the shire paid the same suppliers twice in July 2025.
The second payment was not even recorded in its accounting system and not yet fully recovered at the time of the auditor’s report.
The report said the combination of a high-value duplicate payment, the absence of system records for the second payment, and lack of detection or reporting represented a serious deficiency in the shire’s internal controls over expenditure, financial reporting, and fraud prevention.

Historical errors continued:

Another finding that concerned auditors was the fact the shire still could not verify its opening balances or historical financial figures – a problem their report said had persisted across four audits.
Auditors also found no monthly bank reconciliations were performed for almost the entire financial year (for July 2024 to May 2025) with errors discovered.
Including the shire’s bank reconciliation as at 30 June 2025 included an unreconciled balance of $22,991.
The Shire’s asset register system was also outdated and the lack of a formal grants register was also flagged by the auditor.
The report warned the failures significantly increased the risk of fraud, financial misstatement, cyber breaches and governance breakdowns, undermining public confidence in the shire’s operations.

The shire’s response to the audit’s findings:

Shire chief executive officer Aaron Bowman told The Herald the overpayment comprised of multiple payments which had been outlined to council in a report this month.
He confirmed 95 percent of the funds had been repaid and the remaining five per cent wasn’t refunded in cash but was credited to accounts and taken off future payments.
The shire’s response to a number of issues raised in the audit was also outlined in a letter to the Local Government Minister.
“The shire is working towards addressing all the issues by either completing the actions required, preparing the necessary registers and by council adopting the appropriate policies.”
“These will be completed by the timeframes specified in the completion dates detailed against each action in the management report.”