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REPORT DIGEST ILLINOIS BOARD OF HIGHER EDUCATION COMPLIANCE
EXAMINATION For the Two Years Ended: June 30, 2005 Summary of Findings: Total this audit 2 Total last audit 2 Repeated from last audit 1 Release Date: March 22, 2006
State of Illinois Office of the Auditor General WILLIAM G. HOLLAND 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 the
full report are also available on the worldwide web at |
SYNOPSIS
¨ The Board has not implemented a recommendation made in the 1998 Management Audit of Tuition and Fee Waivers. ¨ The Board did not enforce compliance with its Rules and Regulations over State grants awarded regarding timely submission of required reports and schedules. {Expenditures and Activity
Measures are summarized on the reverse page.} |
ILLINOIS
BOARD OF HIGHER EDUCATION
COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
For
The Two Years Ended June 30, 2005
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EXPENDITURE STATISTICS |
FY 2005 |
FY 2004 |
FY 2003 |
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· Total Expenditures (All Funds)......................... |
$42,219,103 |
$97,148,057 |
$115,710,051 |
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OPERATIONS TOTAL...................................
% of Total Expenditures................................. |
$2,636,529
6% |
$17,488,354
18% |
$17,691,251
15% |
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Personal Services............................................
% of
Operations Expenditures....................
Average
No. of Employees........................ |
$2,033,191
77%
33 |
$2,190,039
13%
92 |
$2,218,422
13%
104 |
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Other Payroll Costs (FICA, Retirement)...........
% of
Operations Expenditures.................... |
$26,272
1% |
$14,779,114
84% |
$14,776,949
83% |
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Contractual Services.......................................
% of
Operations Expenditures.................... |
$472,144
18% |
$405,762
2% |
$531,301
3% |
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All Other Operations Items..............................
% of
Operations Expenditures.................... |
$104,922
4% |
$113,439
1% |
$164,579
1% |
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GRANTS TOTAL.................................................
% of Total Expenditures.................................
Total
State-Funded Grants..................................
% of Total Grants.................................................
Total
Federally-Funded Grants...........................
% of Total
Grants.................................................
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$39,582,574
94%
$37,746,758
95%
$1,835,816
5% |
$79,659,703
82%
$73,264,043
92%
$6,395,660
8% |
$98,018,800
85%
$95,962,063
98%
$2,056,737
2% |
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· Cost of Property and Equipment...................... |
$583,932 |
$39,878,763 |
$39,285,022 |
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CASH RECEIPTS |
FY 2005 |
FY 2004 |
FY 2003 |
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·
General Revenue Fund -001....................................
·
Education Assistance Fund
–007..…………………
·
Illinois Century Network
Fund - 729…....................
·
Tobacco Settlement
Recovery Fund - 733…............
·
BHE State Projects Fund -
736…...........................
·
Federal Grants Fund - 983......................................
Total................................................................... |
$404,351
5,102
0
68
1,820,582
4,203,612
$6,433,715 |
$395,945
130,868
342,362
32,424
32,810,344
4,481,681
$38,193,624 |
$491,548
45,827
2,583,957
60,611
125,000
1,511,195
$4,818,138 |
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR |
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During Audit Period: Dr. Daniel J. LaVista (7/1/2003 –
8/6/2004),
Mr. Thomas R. Lamont (8/16/2004
– 6/30/2005)
Currently: Ms.
Judy Erwin |
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IBHE tuition waiver regulations outdated Audit reports were
submitted between 27 and 198 days late Board could not
determine if expenditures were valid or if a refund was due $7,301 in refunds
was subsequently collected once auditors raised issues Evaluation reports
were submitted 26 and 214 days late |
FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS NEED TO IMPLEMENT RECOMMENDATION FROM THE 1998 Management Audit of Tuition and Fee Waivers The Illinois Board of Higher Education (Board) did not fully implement one recommendation of the 1998 Management Audit of Tuition and Fee Waivers. The 1998 Management Audit of Tuition and Fee Waivers recommended that the Board update its regulations to reflect its current three percent waiver limit. The Board had not established the three percent limit on undergraduate institutional tuition waivers in regulations, as required by State law; rather, Board regulations contained an outdated (1988) policy which limits tuition waivers to two percent of fall full-time enrollment.
·
In response to
the 1998 management audit, the Board stated that it would review its waiver
policies and regulations and ensure the two are consistent.
·
During the FY01
engagement, the Board said it planned to take a comprehensive set of changes
to its rules and regulations to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules,
which would address the limit on undergraduate institutional tuition
waivers.
·
During the FY03
engagement, the Board stated its work plan had been adjusted to ensure that
the necessary resources would be available to address the revisions to the
regulations.
·
The current
engagement’s follow-up found that the
Board still had not updated its regulations to ensure consistency between the
regulations and the Tuition and Fee waiver program policies. (Finding 1, pages 8-9) This finding was first reported
in 1998. We recommended the Board update its regulations to reflect its current three percent waiver limit, as recommended seven years ago in the Management Audit of Tuition and Fee Waivers.
Board officials stated that
at its December 2005 meeting, the Board approved a regulatory agenda for 2006
that includes review of 23 Ill. Adm. Code 1070, the administrative rule that
contains the tuition waiver limit that is the subject of the finding. The recommendation that the Board update
its regulations to reflect its current three percent waiver limit will be
addressed during that review. (For
previous Board response, see Digest Footnote #1.) FAILURE TO ENFORCE COMPLIANCE WITH RULES AND
REGULATIONS OVER STATE GRANTS AWARDED The Board did not enforce compliance with its Rules and Regulations over State grants awarded regarding timely submission of required reports and schedules. As a result, the Board’s ability to monitor State grants was negatively impacted. During our testing, we noted the following:
·
For five of 50 (10%) grants tested, the grantees did
not submit an audit report within the required time after the end of the
grant period. The audit reports were
received between 27 and 198 days late.
·
For two of 50 (4%) grants tested, the audit reports
submitted were not grant specific audits nor did they include a schedule of
actual grant expenditures, as required, so that the Board could determine if
expenditures were valid or if a refund was due. The Board requested a schedule of actual grant expenditures from these two grantees; however, these requests were not made within the timeframes required by the Administrative Code. As a result of the request, the Board received two refunds from Higher Education Cooperation Act (HECA) Grants totaling $7,301. One refund was for a grant in question and the other refund was related to a grant not tested by the auditors. Both refunds were received 317 days after the end of the grant period, which is 272 days late according to the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act.
We recommended the Board review the adequacy of their policies and procedures regarding the submission of audit reports and other reports required for State grants. We further recommended the Board timely require a schedule of grant expenditures from each grantee in order to adequately monitor grants awarded and to ensure refunds are received as required by the Act. In addition, we recommended the Board continue to work with grantees to ensure required reports are submitted timely. Board officials concurred with our recommendation and stated that they will examine the administrative procedures and determine if changes to the administrative rules are needed to clarify the reporting deadlines.
Responses were provided by
Peggy Podlasek, Board Fiscal Officer. AUDITORS' OPINION
We conducted a compliance examination of the Illinois Board of Higher Education as required by the Illinois State Auditing Act. We have not audited any financial statements of the Board for the purpose of expressing an opinion, because the agency does not, nor is it required to, prepare financial statements. ____________________________________ WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, Auditor General WGH:CML:pp AUDITORS ASSIGNED This examination was performed by the staff of the Office of the Auditor General.
DIGEST FOOTNOTES
#1 1998
Management Audit of Tuition and Fee Waivers Recommendations Not Implemented –
Previous Agency Response
2003: The Agency acknowledges that it has
additional work to do to fully implement the recommendations made in the 1998
Management Audit of Tuition and Fee Waivers, specifically the revisions to
administrative rules and evaluation of waiver programs. This work was scheduled to be completed in
2002-03 as part of the Agency’s work plan, however, during that period,
staffing transitions and adjustments to the work plan were necessary to fully
respond to requests by the Board, Governor’s Office, and General Assembly
which required Agency resources to be re-directed from completing these
particular activities to other areas.
The Agency’s work plan for this year has been adjusted to ensure that
the necessary resources will be available to address the revisions to
administrative rules and to complete the evaluation of waiver programs.
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