REPORT DIGEST

ILLINOIS EDUCATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS
BOARD

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2021

Release Date:  January 26, 2023

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT:  5

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT – TOTAL
Category 1:  0 -- 0 -- 0
Category 2:  3 -- 2 -- 5
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  3 -- 2 -- 5

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 2

Category 1: Findings that are material
weaknesses in internal control and/or
a qualification on compliance with
State laws and regulations (material
noncompliance).
Category 2: Findings that are
significant deficiencies in internal
control and noncompliance with State
laws and regulations.
Category 3: Findings that have no
internal control issues but are in
noncompliance with State laws and
regulations.

State of Illinois, Office of the
Auditor General
FRANK J. MAUTINO, AUDITOR GENERAL

To obtain a copy of the Report
contact:
Office of the Auditor General, Iles
Park Plaza, 740 E. Ash Street,
Springfield, IL 62703
(217) 782-6046 or TTY (888) 261-2887

This Report Digest and Full Report are
also available on the worldwide web at
www.auditor.illinois.gov

SYNOPSIS

• (21-1)	The Illinois
Educational Labor Relations Board
(Board) did not maintain sufficient
controls 	over its equipment.
• (21-2)	The Board did not have
an adequate segregation of duties over
its accounting and 	recordkeeping
functions.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

INSUFFICIENT CONTROLS OVER EQUIPMENT

The Board did not maintain sufficient
controls over its equipment.
Specifically, the Board did not report
obsolete transferable equipment to the
Department of Central Management
Services (DCMS) and did not remove a
lost item from inventory.  We noted
the following conditions:

• During forwards testing, we noted 18
of 22 (82%) items, totaling $19,782,
selected for testing appeared to be
obsolete to the needs of the Board.
During backwards testing, we noted 31
of 42 (74%) items, totaling $12,423,
selected for testing appeared to be
obsolete to the needs of the Board.
While touring the Board’s Springfield
and Chicago office locations, we noted
multiple areas were being used for
storage of unused or obsolete items.
We inquired of the Board to determine
if the Board attempted to dispose of
the unused or obsolete assets with the
DCMS.  The Board indicated there had
been no attempt to dispose of the
assets during the examination period.
Additionally, we noted excess
electronic data processing (EDP)
equipment while onsite at the Board’s
Chicago office.  In total, we
identified 125 items, totaling
$81,769, as obsolete to the needs of
the Board.

• We also noted 1 of 22 (5%) equipment
items tested, totaling $200, that was
reported as not located on the annual
certifications of inventory filed
during Fiscal Year 2020 and Fiscal
Year 2021.  The item was not removed
from the Board’s June 30, 2021
property records.  (Finding 1, pages
11-12)  This finding has been reported
since 2013.

We recommended the Board take action
to ensure all transferable equipment
is reported to DCMS.  We also
recommended the Board ensure missing
items are removed from property
records.

Board management agreed with the
finding and noted corrective action is
in progress.

INADEQUATE SEGREGATION OF DUTIES

The Board did not have an adequate
segregation of duties over its
accounting and recordkeeping
functions.

During testing, we noted for payroll
and non-payroll expenditures, the
Board’s Chief Fiscal officer has the
authority to perform all parts of the
transaction cycle, including:

• Authorization by reviewing and
approving transactions, including
having signature authority for all
transactions and direct access to the
Central Payroll System (CPS);
• Custody by maintaining electronic
and physical records and submitting
expenditures for payment to the State
Comptroller;
• Recordkeeping by preparing the
payroll and any adjustments within CPS
for submission to the State
Comptroller, preparing entries, and
maintaining the Board’s internal
accounting records; and,
• Reconciliation by preparing
reconciliations to the State
Comptroller’s records to verify each
transaction’s validity, proper
authorization, and entry into the
Board’s accounting records.

We did not identify any compensating
controls to mitigate this significant
control weakness over the Board’s
expenditures, which totaled $3,100,971
during the examination period.
(Finding 2, pages 13-14)  This finding
has been reported since 2007.

We recommended the Board implement
procedures to limit one person from
having the authority to perform all of
the functions associated with payroll
and non-payroll expenditure
transactions.  We also noted involving
an existing staff person in the
transaction cycle process could
facilitate an appropriate segregation
of duties without hiring an assistant
fiscal officer or accountant.

Board management agreed with the
finding and noted the Board intends to
hire an assistant fiscal officer to
resolve this issue.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings pertain to
weaknesses in disaster recovery
planning, cybersecurity programs and
practices, and voucher processing.  We
will review the Board’s progress
towards the implementation of our
recommendations in our next State
compliance examination.

ACCOUNTANT’S OPINION

The accountants conducted a State
compliance examination of the Board
for the two years ended June 30, 2021,
as required by the Illinois State
Auditing Act.  The accountants stated
the Board complied, in all material
respects, with the requirements
describe in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by the Office of the Auditor
General’s staff.

JANE CLARK
Division Director

This report is transmitted in
accordance with Section 3-14 of the
Illinois State Auditing Act.

FRANK J. MAUTINO
Auditor General

FJM:CMD