REPORT DIGEST

ILLINOIS EDUCATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2023

Release Date:  April 25, 2024

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 8

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT – TOTAL

Category 1:  0 -- 0 -- 0
Category 2:  2 -- 5 -- 7
Category 3:  1 -- 0 -- 1
TOTAL:  3 -- 5 -- 8

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 5

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, 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

• (23-2) The Board did not have adequate
segregation of duties over its expenditure,
accounting and recordkeeping functions.

• (23-4) The Board did not maintain
sufficient controls over its equipment.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

INADEQUATE SEGREGATION OF DUTIES

The Board did not have an adequate
segregation of duties over its expenditure,
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 Department of Innovation and
Technology’s (DoIT) Central Payroll System
(CPS);
• Custody by maintaining electronic and
physical records and submitting expenditures
for payment to the Illinois Office of
Comptroller (IOC);
• Recordkeeping by preparing the payroll and
any adjustments within CPS for submission to
the IOC, preparing entries, and maintaining
the Board’s internal accounting records; and
• Reconciliation by preparing
reconciliations of the IOC’s records to the
Board’s accounting records.

DoIT’s ERP system has a built-in control
requiring authorization by a second employee
to move a non-payroll expenditure forward in
the system. Other than this control, we did
not note any additional compensating
controls to mitigate this significant
control weakness over the Board’s
expenditures, which totaled $2,842,909 for
payroll expenditures and $310,397 for non-
payroll expenditures, during the examination
period. (Finding 2, Pages 9-10) This finding
has been reported since 2007.

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

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

INSUFFICIENT CONTROLS OVER EQUIPMENT

The Board did not maintain sufficient
controls over its equipment.

During our examination, we noted the
following conditions:

• We noted 7 of 42 (17%) equipment items,
totaling $10,880, selected for testing
appeared to be obsolete to the needs of the
Board. We inquired of the Board to determine
if the Board attempted to dispose of these
unused or obsolete assets with the
Department of
Central Management Services (DCMS). The
Board indicated it had transferred numerous
obsolete items to DCMS during the
examination period; however, the items noted
in the current examination had not been
reported to DCMS.

• We also noted 1 of 21 (5%) equipment item
tested, totaling $200, was not located
during our physical inventory testing. We
also noted the same item was reported as not
located on the Board’s annual certification
of inventory filed for Fiscal Year 2022 and
Fiscal Year 2023. (Finding 4, pages 12-13)
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 inventory discrepancies are
properly resolved as required by the Code.

The Board agreed with the recommendation and
noted corrective action is in progress.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings pertain to the
Board’s weaknesses regarding disaster
recovery planning, voucher processing, and
cybersecurity programs and practices, board
vacancies, and noncompliance with statutory
mandates and personal services. 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 compliance
examination of the Board for the two years
ended June 30, 2023, as required by the
Illinois State Auditing Act.  The
accountants stated the Board complied, in
all material respects, with the requirements
described in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by Borschnack, Pelletier & Co.

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

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