REPORT DIGEST

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2024

Release Date:  May 22, 2025

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 10

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT – TOTAL
Category 1:  0 -- 3 -- 3
Category 2:  2 -- 5 -- 7
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  2 -- 8 -- 10

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 8

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, 400 West
Monroe, Suite 306, Springfield, IL
62704-9849
(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

• (24-1) The Office did not exercise
adequate controls over recording and
reporting of its State property and
equipment.
• (24-2) The Office had weaknesses in
performing required reconciliations of
accounting records during the examination
period.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

INADEQUATE CONTROLS OVER PROPERTY AND
EQUIPMENT

The Office did not exercise adequate
controls over recording and reporting of its
State property and equipment.

• On the 2024 Fiscal Year end Agency Report
on State Property (C-15) form, the equipment
balance was overstated by $46,358.

• During testing of the Fiscal Year 2023 and
2024 Certification of Inventory and
Discrepancy Reports (Reports), we noted:
—  The 2024 Report was overstated by
$997,585 and the 2023 Report was understated
by $1,302,390.
—  A difference of $18,009 was noted between
the amounts of unlocated items reported by
the Office and recalculated based on support
for the Fiscal Year 2023 Report.
—  The Office did not perform an accurate
and complete inventory count. Forty
Information Technology equipment items,
totaling $266,951, across both fiscal years
were deemed unlocated, but were still being
utilized at the time of our testing.

• The Office could not provide supporting
evidence of the date the assets were removed
from inventory records for 40 of 40 (100%)
deleted assets totaling $534,273. As a
result, auditors were unable to determine if
they were timely removed.

• One of 40 (3%) items tested, totaling
$8,865, had an incorrect location code
assigned to it within the property records.
(Finding 1, pages 10-12)  This finding has
been reported since 2018.

We recommended the Office strengthen
controls related to the reporting, and
inventory of equipment. We also recommended
the Office implement controls to ensure
proper record keeping for its State
property.

The Office accepted the recommendation and
responded that they will conduct a
comprehensive review of all internal
controls, practices, and procedures and will
work to strengthen the internal controls and
increase the accuracy of their property
records and tracking of inventory.

WEAKNESSES IN PERFORMING ACCOUNTING RECORD
RECONCILIATIONS

The Office had weaknesses in performing
required reconciliations of accounting
records. We noted:

• Differences between the Office’s official
cash records and those of the Comptroller
totaled $3,111,392 and $8,025,676 for Fiscal
Years 2023 and 2024, respectively. While the
Office was able to determine what the
differences were for, they did not correct
the Office’s official records in ERP for the
noted differences.

• For the Office’s reconciliation of their
monthly expenditure records to the Monthly
Appropriation Status Report (SB01), we
noted:
—  For six of 88 (7%) monthly fund
reconciliations tested, the Office balance
reflected on the reconciliation did not tie
to Office records.
—  For 20 of 88 (23%) samples tested that
had reconciling items, we were unable to
trace the amounts reported as vouchers in
transit to subsequent support that vouchers
had cleared.
—  Differences between the Office’s records
and those of the Comptroller totaling
$320,223 and $1,227,471 for Fiscal Years
2023 and 2024, respectively, were noted
within the SB01 reconciliations. While the
Office was able to determine what the
differences were for, they did not correct
the Office’s records for the noted
differences.
—  For Fiscal Year 2024, one of 22 (5%)
appropriation lines was not included in the
Office’s June or September lapse period
reconciliations.

• The reconciliation of the Monthly
Obligation Activity Report for one of four
(25%) months selected was not dated,
therefore, we were unable to ensure
timeliness. (Finding 2, pages 13-14)

We recommended the Office ensure
reconciliations are timely performed and
dated by the preparer and reviewer.
Additionally, we recommended the Office
timely correct any reconciliation
differences that are noted during the
monthly reconciliations.

The Office accepted the recommendation and
stated the Office had already detected and
documented the differences and ensured the
figures reported by the Comptroller’s Office
were accurate. The Office also stated other
issues noted were clerical errors, and they
will continue to work with staff to improve
the accuracy of the underlying ERP records
and reconciliations

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings pertain to timeliness
of expenditure and receipt processing,
information technology controls, statutory
mandate compliance, and controls over
personal service functions. We will review
the Office’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 Office for the two years
ended June 30, 2024, as required by the
Illinois State Auditing Act.  The
accountants qualified their report on State
compliance for Findings 2024-001, 2024-002,
and 2024-004.  Except for the noncompliance
described in these findings, the accountants
stated the Office complied, in all material
respects, with the requirements described in
the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by Sikich CPA LLC.

COURTNEY DZIERWA
Division Director

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

FRANK J. MAUTINO
Auditor General

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