REPORT DIGEST

REPORT DIGEST

COMMUTER RAIL DIVISION OF THE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY AND THE NORTHEAST ILLINOIS REGIONAL COMMUTER RAILROAD CORPORATION (A PUBLIC CORPORATION), (BOTH d/b/a Metra)

FINANCIAL AUDIT AND SINGLE AUDIT

For the Year Ended:

December 31, 2005

Summary of Findings:

Total this audit 1

Total last audit 0

Repeated from last audit 0

Release Date:

June 1, 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 is also available on

the worldwide web at

http://www.state.il.us/auditor

SYNOPSIS

¨ Metra did not have adequate procedures to ensure that the semi-annual Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Reports submitted to the Federal Transit Administration were accurate based on their record keeping system.

COMMUTER RAIL DIVISION OF THE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY
AND THE NORTHEAST ILLINOIS REGIONAL COMMUTER RAILROAD CORPORATION (A PUBLIC CORPORATION), (BOTH d/b/a METRA)

FINANCIAL AUDIT

For The Years Ended December 31, 2005 and 2004

FINANCIAL OPERATIONS			2005	2004
Operating Revenues Passenger Revenue.......................................................... Passenger Operating...................................................... Capital Farebox Financing............................................... Total Passenger Revenues............................................ Other………………………………………………………... Total Operating Revenues………………………………... Operating Expenses Transportation.................................................................. Fuel and Motive Power..................................................... Maintenance of Way........................................................ Maintenance of Equipment................................................ Administration.................................................................. Claims, Insurance & Risk Management............................. Regional Services…………………………………………… Downtown Stations…………………………………………. Depreciation………………………………………………… Total Operating Expenses............................................. Operating Loss Non-Operating Revenues (Expenses) Federal……………………………………………………… Local………………………………………………………... Total Financial Assistance……………………………….. Interest Income from Restricted Assets……………………... Interest Expense on Leasehold Transaction Obligations...... Total Non-Operating Revenues (Expenses)………......... Change in Net Assets……………………………………. Net Assets at Beginning of Year……………………… Net Assets at End of Year………………………………			$189,102,160 9,391,752 198,493,912 62,599,604 $261,093,516 $170,426,964 47,416,784 101,240,318 105,706,066 36,581,979 16,905,169 13,481,410 11,879,186 176,558,123 $680,195,999 ($419,102,483) $184,327,372 386,847,639 $571,175,011 $18,215,604 (18,215,604) $571,175,011 $152,072,528 2,556,185,152 $2,708,257,680	$182,687,931 9,075,310 191,763,241 62,092,803 $253,856,044 $166,316,224 23,443,604 96,613,406 103,681,154 35,207,562 15,339,541 14,082,738 11,527,745 172,669,701 $638,881,675 ($385,025,631) $175,566,350 436,062,738 $611,629,088 $18,191,420 (18,191,420) $611,629,088 $226,603,457 2,329,581,695 $2,556,185,152
SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNT BALANCES			2005	2004
Cash and cash equivalents.................................................. Capital Assets (net)........................................................... Accounts Payable.............................................................. Total Net Assets................................................................			$46,177,139 2,678,583,483 51,732,572 2,708,257,680	$58,195,936 2,506,262,196 64,308,070 2,556,185,152
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
During Audit Period and Currently: Mr. Philip A. Pagano
	3 errors were noted resulting in a net understatement of Metra’s DBE participation	FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS INACCURATE REPORTING OF DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS ENTERPRISES AWARDS Metra did not have adequate procedures to ensure that the semi-annual Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (“DBE”) Reports submitted to the Federal Transit Administration (“FTA”) were accurate based on their record keeping system. We selected both reports filed during the fiscal year and noted three errors in total. The errors resulted in a net understatement of Metra’s percentage of DBE participation. (Finding 1, Page 9) We recommended that additional procedures be implemented in the DBE reporting process to ensure that reports submitted to the FTA are mathematically accurate and accurately report the progress of the program. These procedures should include management review of the completed report prior to submission. Metra officials stated that corrected reports have been submitted to the FTA and that in order to minimize the possibility of errors in the future, an additional control has been implemented that requires all work performed by DBE staff be reviewed by another DBE staff member. In addition, the completed report will be reviewed by the Accounting Department before it is submitted to the FTA. AUDITORS’ OPINION Our auditors state the basic financial statements of Metra as of and for the year ended December 31, 2005 are fairly presented in all material respects. ____________________________________ WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, Auditor General WGH:TLK:pp SPECIAL ASSISTANT AUDITORS Crowe Chizek and Company LLC were our special assistant auditors for this engagement.

FINANCIAL AUDIT

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR