Agencies are required to notify the Auditors of Public Accounts and the Office of the State Comptroller of losses due to theft, vandalism, inventory, or any other loss of any value. Other losses may include employee misconduct, counterfeit bills, unreconciled cash balances, and improper or erroneous consumer transactions, etc. Agencies should generally report losses using a CO-853 Form. Agencies sometimes report using a memo if the nature of the loss requires more explanation.

Section 4-33a of the Connecticut General Statutes states:

“All boards of trustees of state institutions, state department heads, boards, commissions, other state agencies responsible for state property and funds and quasi-public agencies, as defined in section 1-120, shall promptly notify the Auditors of Public Accounts and the Comptroller of any (1) unauthorized, illegal, irregular or unsafe handling or expenditure of state or quasi-public agency funds, (2) breakdowns in the safekeeping of any other resources of the state or quasi-public agencies, (3) breach of security, as defined in section 36a-701b, or (4) contemplated action to commit one of the acts listed in subdivisions (1) to (3), inclusive, of this section within their knowledge. In the case of such notification to the Auditors of Public Accounts, the auditors may permit aggregate reporting in a manner and at a schedule determined by the auditors.”

This statute clearly requires all agencies to report any loss, regardless of its magnitude.

All reports of losses can be sent to Donna Moore (Donna.G.Moore@ctauditors.gov). If you have questions regarding this reporting requirement, please call 860-240-8656. In addition, there are examples of reports in our agency guide.

Our office reports all losses monthly to the Governor, Attorney General, State Library, Joint Committee on Legislative Management, Legislative Library, and the Clerks of the House and Senate. Our office has regular Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for these reports from several media outlets. If you report any information that cannot be publicly released, due to an FOI exemption or other confidentiality provision, please inform our office.