REPORT DIGEST LEGISLATIVE ETHICS COMMISSION COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2016 Release Date: May 3, 2017 FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 2 CATEGORY: NEW -- REPEAT -- TOTAL Category 1: 0 -- 0 -- 0 Category 2: 0 -- 2 -- 2 Category 3: 0 -- 0 -- 0 TOTAL: 0 -- 2 -- 2 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 • (16-01) The Commission did comply with certain procedural requirements. FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS PROCEDURAL DEFICIENCIES The Legislative Ethics Commission (Commission) did not comply with certain procedural requirements established by State laws and regulations as described below: • The Commission did not file a Fiscal Control and Internal Auditing Act certification with the Office of the Auditor General for Fiscal Year 2016 as required. • The Commission did not timely submit two of two (100%) State property inventory certifications to the Department of Central Management Services. The certification for Fiscal Year 2015 was submitted 52 days late, and the certification for Fiscal Year 2014 was not submitted at all. • The Commission failed to perform and document 24 of 24 (100%) monthly reconciliations of its expenditures with the Office of the Comptroller’s Monthly Appropriation Status Report. (Finding 1, pages 7-8). This finding has been repeated since 2010. We recommended the Commission timely submit its FCIAA certification to the Office of the Auditor General, timely submit the required property reports, and document performance of expenditure reconciliations monthly. The Commission accepted our recommendation. (For the previous Commission response, see Digest Footnote #1.) OTHER FINDING The remaining finding pertains to an inadequate segregation of duties. We will review the Commission’s progress towards the implementation of our recommendations in our next compliance examination. ACCOUNTANT’S OPINION The accountants conducted a compliance examination of the Commission for the two years ended June 30, 2016, as required by the Illinois State Auditing Act. The accountants stated the Commission complied, in all material respects, with the requirements described in the report. This compliance examination was conducted by the Office of the Auditor General’s staff. BRUCE L. BULLARD Division Director This report is transmitted in accordance with Section 3-14 of the Illinois State Auditing Act. FRANK J. MAUTINO Auditor General FJM:ks DIGEST FOOTNOTES #1 – Procedural Deficiencies – Previous Commission Response 2014: Accepted. As noted, over the past several audit cycles, the agency has generally improved diligence with regard to filing external reports, but the Executive Director acknowledges confusion regarding the specificity of the filing date (i.e., May 1st) for the annual FCIAA certification to the Auditor General. The reports were filed each May, but not by May 1st. The late filings of one property report (acknowledging the agency has no property) and of one TA-2 report were inadvertent errors. While the agency does periodic reconciliation of its expenditures and had no deficiency in its accounting of expenditures during the audit cycle, the agency failed to comply with the monthly expenditure reconciliation set forth in SAMS. Moving forward, the agency will endeavor for full compliance with these exceptions.