The chairman of the board of directors of the Door County Visitor Bureau says an allegation that more than $41,000 is missing from the organization’s accounts is untrue & an investigation will prove that is the case. Robert Dickson, in a letter to WDOR, noted that a data backup failure two years ago caused a data corruption to the bureau’s accounting software, Quick Books. The staff worked with Intuit, the developer of Quick Books, to correct the problem, but the corrupt data could not be repaired. This led the $41,307 to be allocated to uncategorized expenses in the 2010 audit. Dickson said other Intuit customers experienced similar problems with the software. He said an internal investigation found that no funds were missing & all of the funds were accounted for. The bureau’s auditor, Erickson & Associates of Green Bay, conducted a deeper analysis & concluded “For the audit we conducted for the year ended December 31st, 2010, we were not aware of any misappropriation occurring.” The audit & supporting information regarding the expenses were checked by the Visitor Bureau’s board of directors & the executive committee of the Dour County Tourism Zone. After a thorough examination, both groups determined that the software was the problem & no funds were missing. Dickson said he is confident that after the investigation by the Door County Sheriff’s Department is completed, the Door County Visitor Bureau will be able to put the issue to rest. He noted that, as a result of the data backup failure, the bureau’s accounting software has been upgraded, the data backup has been increased to twice per day & the accounting policies & procedures have been strengthened. Dickson reiterated his confidence that the matter will be resolved & that there will be no interruption in the mission of marketing Door County.
