REPORT DIGEST

ILLINOIS LIQUOR CONTROL COMMISSON

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2025

Release Date:  April 14, 2026

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 12

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT – TOTAL
Category 1:  0 -- 2 -- 2
Category 2:  2 – 8 -- 10
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  2 -- 10 – 12

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT:12

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

• (25-01) The Illinois Liquor Control
Commission (Commission) did not maintain
adequate control over receipts.
• (25-02) The Commission did not maintain
adequate controls over monthly
reconciliations between its internal
records and the Office of Comptroller
reports and its locally-held fund’s bank
statements.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

INADEQUATE CONTROLS OVER RECEIPTS

The Illinois Liquor Control Commission
(Commission) did not maintain adequate
controls over receipts.

According to Commission records, the
Commission collected total revenues of
$20,061,314 and $20,071,559 which were
deposited into the General Revenue Fund
(Fund 001) and the Dram Shop Fund (Fund
821) during Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025,
respectively.  However, as discussed in
Finding 2025-002, we noted irreconcilable
differences of $523,259 and $245,006
between the Commission’s receipt records
and the Office of Comptroller’s Monthly
Revenue Status Report (SB04) reports as of
June 30, 2024 and June 30, 2025,
respectively.

Due to these conditions, we were unable to
conclude whether the Commission’s
population records were sufficiently
precise and detailed under the Attestation
Standards promulgated by the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants
(AT-C § 205.36) to test the Commission’s
receipts.

Even given the population limitation noted
above which hindered the ability of the
accountants to conclude whether selected
samples were representative of the
population as a whole, we performed
testing.

During our testing of the Agency Fee
Imposition Reports, we noted the following:

• For the Fiscal Year 2024 Agency Fee
Imposition Report, the liquor licenses fees
reported under the General Revenue Fund
were understated by $7,514,230. For one of
the fees under the Dram Shop Fund, we also
noted the Commission did not indicate the
statutory citation from the Illinois
Compiled Statutes that provides them the
authority to charge such a fee.

• For the Fiscal Year 2025 Agency Fee
Imposition Report, the funds into which the
fees are deposited were not accurately
reported.  As of June 30, 2025, deposits to
the Dram Shop Fund of $10,838,757 and
General Revenue Fund of $9,477,808 per SB04
report were not identified and separately
reported in the Agency Fee Imposition
Report. In addition, the total collections
reported in the Agency Fee Imposition
Report were overstated by $3,849,890.

In addition, during our testing of 60 non-
sufficient fund (NSF) transactions, we
noted the following:

• For six (10%) NSF transactions tested,
the Commission did not receive alternative
payment, but the related license was not
cancelled or revoked.

• For two (3%) NSF transactions, the
Commission was unable to provide supporting
documentation of the alternative payment
received by the Commission. (Finding 1,
pages 11-13)   This finding has been
reported since 2021.

We recommended the Commission establish
adequate controls over the receipts process
to ensure proper documentation of receipts
transactions are maintained and properly
reconciled to the Comptroller’s records,
and statutorily required reports are
completed accurately as required by State
laws. We also recommended the Commission
implement adequate controls to ensure
receipt of alternative payments for NSF
transactions and adequate documentation is
properly maintained.

The Commission agreed with the
recommendation and outlined a corrective
action plan.

INADEQUATE CONTROLS OVER MONTHLY
RECONCILIATIONS

The Illinois Liquor Control Commission
(Commission) did not maintain adequate
controls over monthly reconciliations
between its internal records and the Office
of Comptroller reports and its locally-held
fund’s bank statements.

The Commission collected total revenues of
$20,061,314 and $20,071,559 which were
deposited into two funds in Fiscal Years
2024 and 2025, respectively. In addition,
the Commission maintained a locally-held
fund with a balance of $17,663 and $3,517
as of June 30, 2024 and June 30, 2025,
respectively.

During testing of the Commission’s monthly
reconciliations, we noted the following:

• There were unreconciled differences of
$523,259 and $245,006 between the
Commission’s records and the Office of
Comptroller’s Monthly Revenue Status Report
(SB04) as of June 30, 2024 and June 30,
2025, respectively.

• There were differences of $3,063 and
$11,059 between the Commission’s Report of
Receipts and Disbursements for Locally Held
Funds (Form C-17) and the locally-held fund
bank statements as of June 30, 2024 and
June 30, 2025, respectively.

• Three of five (60%) monthly
reconciliations tested of the Commission’s
records to locally-held fund bank
statements were performed 3 to 31 days
late. (Finding 2, page 14-15)   This
finding has been reported since 2021.

We recommended the Commission implement
controls to ensure all required monthly
reconciliations are timely and accurately
performed, documented, and reviewed.

The Commission agreed with the
recommendation and outlined a corrective
action plan.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings pertain to
inadequate controls over personal services,
state vehicles, reporting requirements,
State property; review of user access
rights and GenTax Access; noncompliance
with the Liquor Control Act; weaknesses in
cybersecurity and disaster recovery
planning; and lack of adequate controls
over the review of internal controls over
service providers. We will review the
Commission’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 Commission
for the two years ended June 30, 2025, as
required by the Illinois State Auditing
Act.  The accountants qualified their
report on State compliance for Finding
2025-001 and Finding 2025-002.  Except for
the noncompliance described in these
findings, the accountants stated the
Commission complied, in all material
respects, with the requirements described
in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by Adelfia 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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