REPORT DIGEST

REGIONAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION #39: MACON AND
PIATT COUNTIES

FINANCIAL AUDIT (IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
UNIFORM GUIDANCE)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED June 30, 2024

Release Date:  November 19, 2025

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 5

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

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 Regional Office of Education
#39 had inadequate controls over grant
compliance.

• (24-2) The Regional Office of Education
#39 did not provide completed financial
statements in an auditable form by the
August 31 deadline.

• (24-3) The Regional Office of Education
#39 had inadequate controls over record
keeping of equipment from Federal Funds.

• (24-4) The Regional Office of Education
#39 had inadequate controls over
subrecipient monitoring.

• (24-5) The Regional Office of Education
#39 had inadequate controls over the
preparation of the Schedule of Expenditures
of Federal Awards.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CONTROLS OVER GRANT COMPLIANCE

The Regional Office of Education #39 (ROE)
had inadequate controls over grant
compliance.  The ROE did not submit or
timely submit the required reports to the
Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) in
compliance with the grant award agreement.

The grant award agreements between the ROE
and ISBE require the ROE to complete and
submit expenditure reports quarterly. The
quarterly expenditure reports are due 20
calendar days after the end of the
reporting quarter.

The Code of Federal Regulations (Code) (2
CFR. §200.303 (a)) requires the ROE to
establish and maintain effective internal
control over the federal award to provide
reasonable assurance the ROE is managing
the federal award in compliance with
federal statues, regulations and the terms
and conditions of the federal award.
Effective internal controls should include
procedures to ensure compliance with grant
reporting requirements and expenditure
reports are properly supported.

During testing of the ROE’s compliance with
the grant reporting requirements, auditors
noted the following:

• One of 44 (2%) quarterly expenditure
reports were submitted 31 days late.
• Five of 44 (11%) quarterly expenditure
reports lacked sufficient documentation to
support expenditures reported; therefore,
auditors were unable to determine if the
quarterly expenditure reports were
accurately reported.

Regional Office management indicated that
the required reports were not timely
submitted, and supporting documentation was
unavailable due to oversight and access
limitations under the previous finance
staff. (Finding 24-001, pages 15 – 16) This
finding was first reported in 2019.

The auditors recommended the ROE implement
procedures to ensure adherence to the grant
reporting requirements and to ensure
quarterly expenditure reports are properly
supported.

ROE Response: The ROE agrees with the audit
findings and will provide close oversight
for the timely submission of grant
expenditures and performance reports.
Checklist, due dates, and reminders are
shared from the Regional Superintendent to
the Business Office Manager and Program
Directors. Management will review the grant
report submissions in Illinois Web
Application Security (IWAS) for accuracy
and completion before approving and
submitting to Illinois State Board of
Education.

DELAY OF AUDIT

The Regional Office of Education #39 (ROE)
did not provide completed financial
statements in an auditable form by the
August 31, 2024, deadline. The completed
June 30, 2024 financial statements were
provided to the auditors on March 18, 2025.

In addition, the delay in providing the
necessary items for audit prevented the
auditors from completing their work
according to the planned audit timeline.
The items required to finalize the audit
were not provided as scheduled, which
contributed to the overall delay in the
audit process.

ROE #39 is subject to 105 ILCS 5/2-3.17a
which requires the Auditor General’s office
to cause an audit to be made, as of June
30th of each year, of the financial
statements of all accounts, funds and other
moneys in the care, custody or control of
the regional superintendent of schools of
each educational service region in the
State and of each educational service
center established in the School Code. The
audit is to be conducted in accordance with
Generally Accepted Government Auditing
Standards. A Regional Office of Education
or Educational Service Center is to utilize
a cash basis, modified cash basis, or
generally accepted accounting principles
(GAAP) basis of accounting to prepare the
financial statements for audit.

In accordance with 105 ILCS 5/2-3.17a, the
Auditor General has promulgated
administrative rules and regulations to
govern this process. Those rules, 74 Ill.
Adm. Code 420.320 (c)(2), state that for
audit purposes, each regional office of
education and educational service center
shall make available to the Auditor General
or its designee all books and records
deemed necessary to make and complete the
required audits. The records shall be
completed in auditable form by August 15 of
the succeeding fiscal year. Financial
reports are to be available no later than
August 31 in order that the annual audit
may be done by an independent auditor
selected by the Auditor General.

In addition, prudent business practices and
transparency require timely preparation and
completion of financial statements and
timely provision of audit requests.

Regional Office management indicated the
Fiscal Year 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023
audits were late resulting in the delay of
the Fiscal Year 2024 audit. Previous
management was not monitoring this
timeline, which led to the audits falling
behind. In addition, necessary items and
supporting documentation were not provided
on time due to other priorities. (Finding
24-002, pages 17 – 18) This finding was
first reported in 2019.

The auditors recommended the ROE should
implement procedures to ensure compliance
with 105 ILCS 5/2-3.17a and 74 Ill. Adm.
Code 420.320 (c)(2). These financial
statements need to be presented to the
Auditor General’s independent auditors for
audit by the August 31 deadline.
Additionally, the ROE should establish
internal controls and clear
responsibilities to ensure that all
necessary supporting documentation and
audit items are provided on time,
preventing delays in completing the audit.

ROE Response: The ROE agrees with the audit
findings and is working with their
contracted accounting firm to ensure that
the office gets back on schedule with the
yearly audit deadlines.

INADEQUATE RECORD KEEPING OVER EQUIPMENT
FROM FEDERAL FUNDS

The Regional Office of Education #39 (ROE)
did not have adequate record keeping over
its equipment acquired from federal funds.

The ROE manually maintains and stores its
inventory of property and equipment. Asset
details in the property records include
only the description of the property,
manufacturer’s serial number or other
identification number, source of funds, who
holds title, acquisition date, and cost of
the property. The other minimum
requirements specified by the Code
including Federal Award Identification
Number (FAIN), location, use and condition
of the property are not included in the
property records.

The Code of Federal Regulations (2 CFR
§200.313(d)(1)) requires that procedures
for managing equipment acquired with
federal funds must maintain property
records that include the following
information: (i) a description of the
property, (ii) manufacturer’s serial number
or other identification number, (iii)
source of the funding for the property
(including the FAIN), (iv) who holds title,
(v) acquisition date (vi) cost of the
property, (vii) percentage of federal
contribution in the project cost for the
Federal award under which the property was
acquired, (viii) location (ix) use and
condition of the property, and (x) and any
ultimate disposition data, including date
of disposal and sale price of the property.

Moreover, the Code (2 CFR §200.303 (a))
requires the ROE to establish and maintain
effective internal control over the federal
award to provide reasonable assurance the
ROE is managing the federal award in
compliance with federal statutes,
regulations, and the terms and conditions
of the federal award. Effective internal
controls should include record keeping and
monitoring of equipment acquired from
federal funds.

Regional Office management indicated that
the issue was due to oversight and lack of
training on requirements. (Finding 24-003,
pages 19 – 20)

The auditors recommended the ROE should
maintain detailed property records as
required by federal regulations to ensure
full compliance.

ROE Response: The ROE agrees with the audit
findings and is implementing documents and
procedures to meet requirements in the
future.

CONTROLS OVER SUBRECIPIENT MONITORING

The Regional Office of Education #39 (ROE)
did not have adequate controls over
subrecipient monitoring in compliance with
the Code of Federal Regulations (Code).

The Code (2 CFR § 200.332 (e)) requires the
ROE to monitor the activities of the
subrecipient to ensure the subaward is used
for authorized purposes, in compliance with
Federal statutes, regulations, and the
terms and conditions of the subaward, and
that subaward performance goals are
achieved

The Code (2 CFR §200.303 (a)) requires the
ROE to establish and maintain effective
internal control over the federal award to
provide reasonable assurance the ROE is
managing the federal award in compliance
with federal statutes, regulations, and the
terms and conditions of the federal award.
Effective internal controls should include
procedures over subrecipient monitoring.

During auditor’s testing of four
subrecipients, auditors noted the ROE did
not adequately monitor its subrecipients’
grant reporting requirements:

• 43 of 48 (90%) monthly expenditure
reports were not received.
• 4 of 48 (8%) monthly expenditure reports
were received five to 183 days late.
• 4 of 4 (100%) annual performance reports
were received 51 to 114 days late.

Regional Office management indicated this
was due to oversight and staffing
limitation. (Finding 24-004, page 21-22)
This finding was first reported in 2022.

The auditors recommended the ROE establish
and implement procedures over subrecipient
monitoring.

ROE Response: The ROE agrees with the audit
findings and although some subrecipient
monitoring was conducted, not all of the
required reports were received, or they
were not received in a timely manner. The
ROE is implementing policies and procedures
to ensure subrecipient monitoring is not
only received but received in a timely
manner as well.

CONTROLS OVER PREPARATION OF SCHEDULE OF
EXPENDITURES OF FEDERAL AWARDS

The Regional Office of Education #39 (ROE)
did not have sufficient internal controls
over the preparation of the Schedule of
Expenditures of Federal Awards (SEFA) to
ensure all federal expenditures during the
fiscal year were reported and information
in the SEFA was accurately reported.

The Code of Federal Regulations (Code) (2
CFR §200.510 (b)), establishes criteria and
requirements related to the preparation of
the SEFA.

The Code (2 CFR § 200.303 (a)) requires the
ROE to establish and maintain effective
internal control over the federal award to
provide reasonable assurance the ROE is
managing the federal award in compliance
with federal statutes, regulations, and the
terms and conditions of the federal award.
Effective internal controls should include
procedures over preparation of the schedule
of expenditures of federal awards.

During the auditor’s review of the SEFA,
the following was noted:

• Program title descriptions were
incorrect.
• Assistance listing number was incorrectly
listed.

Regional Office management indicated the
errors on the SEFA was due to oversight.
(Finding 24-005, pages 23 – 24) This
finding was first reported in 2022.

The auditors recommended the ROE should
establish and implement internal controls
over preparation of the SEFA to ensure
accurate reporting.

ROE Response: The ROE agrees with the audit
findings and will work with contracted
accounting firm to ensure that the schedule
of expenditures of federal awards is
accurately reported as required.

AUDITORS’ OPINION

Our auditors state the Regional Office of
Education #39’s financial statements as of
June 30, 2024 are fairly presented in all
material respects.

This financial audit was conducted by the
firm of Roth & Co., LLP.

JOE BUTCHER
Division Director

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

FRANK J. MAUTINO
Auditor General

FJM:BAO