REPORT DIGEST

SUPREME COURT HISTORIC PRESERVATION
COMMISSION

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2023

Release Date:  April 3, 2025

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 2

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

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 2

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

• (23-1) The Supreme Court Historic
Preservation Commission (Commission) did not
maintain adequate controls over personal
services.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

INADEQUATE CONTROLS OVER PERSONAL SERVICES

The Supreme Court Historic Preservation
Commission (Commission) did not maintain
adequate controls over personal services.

During the testing of employees, auditors
requested the Commission provide a list of
individuals employed by the Commission
during the examination period. When
comparing the list provided to payroll
records, we noted individuals on the payroll
voucher that were not included on the list
of employees provided by the Commission.

Due to this condition, 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 compliance with
employee laws, rules, and regulations.

Even given the population limitations noted
above which hindered our ability to conclude
whether selected samples were representative
of the population as a whole, we selected a
sample of 3 employees and noted the
following:

• The Commission did not maintain adequate
control or have formal policies in place
over personnel records and payroll to
minimize the risk of payroll errors through
miscommunication and/or lack of
documentation, as described below:

— Two (67%) employees tested did not have a
designated personnel file. Commission
officials stated the files were not
maintained since the employees were not full
time employees. As a result, auditors were
unable to perform detail testing for payroll
and salary adjustments.

— For one (33%) employee tested, the
Commission maintained a personnel file;
however, the personnel file did not include
adequate documentation regarding salary.
Specifically, the file lacked documentation
for salary adjustments as well as lacked
several required documents needed to perform
testing related to gross pay, pension
contributions, pay grades, or pay steps.

— For two (67%) employees tested, the
Commission did not award part-time employees
earned personal, sick, or vacation time.

— For one (33%) employee tested, the
Commission was unable to provide supporting
documentation for the Deferred Compensation
Plan enrollment status. As a result, we were
unable to determine if the employee was
automatically enrolled in the State
Employees Deferred Compensation Plan on the
first day of the next pay period following
the employee's 30th day of employment and/or
if the employee elected within 90 days of
enrollment to opt-out of the State Employees
Deferred Compensation Plan and received a
refund of any deferred amounts made prior to
the election.

— Two (67%) employees did not complete an
Employment Eligibility Verification Form
(Form I-9) at the start of their employment
as required. One Form I-9 was completed 294
days after the employee’s start date while
the other had not been completed at the end
of our examination period, which was 851
days after the employee’s start date.

• While performing recalculations of
payroll, we noted several errors. Because of
the number of exceptions noted, we expanded
testing to include all nine employees.
During the expanded testing, we noted the
following:

— For three of nine (33%) employees tested,
the Commission inappropriately classified
employees as completing pre 2020 forms in
the Central Payroll System. We verified the
three employees had completed a post 2020
form. As a result, we were unable to
recalculate the employee's Federal
withholding.

— For five of nine (56%) employees tested,
the Commission did not compute employee
payroll deductions correctly based on
employee payroll documentation. We noted
errors in the amount withheld for taxable
life, health insurance, and State and
Federal Taxes.

— For one of nine (11%) employees tested,
the Commission did not maintain the Federal
W-4 Employee's Withholding Certificate form
on file to support the withholding taxes
during the period.

• The Commission did not maintain supporting
documentation for reported employees and
their salaries for its Fiscal Year 2022 and
2023 Agency Workforce Reports. As a result,
we were unable to determine if the reports
filed were complete and accurate. (Finding
1, Pages 9-13)

We recommended the Commission strengthen its
internal controls over personal services to
ensure proper documentation and personnel
files are maintained correctly and reports
are accurately filed.

The Commission accepted the recommendation
and reported since being alerted of these
issues, the Commission has created files on
part-time employees with proper
documentation and began providing leave time
to part-time employees. The Commission also
indicated they will review all personnel
files for further compliance.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining finding pertains to weaknesses
in the Commission’s Cybersecurity and the
Security and Control of Confidential
Information. 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, 2023, as required by
the Illinois State Auditing Act.   The
accountants qualified their report on State
compliance for Finding 2023-001.  Except for
the noncompliance described in this finding,
the accountants stated the Commission
complied, in all material respects, with the
requirements described in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by the Office of the Auditor
General’s staff.

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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