REPORT DIGEST

ILLINOIS STATE TOLL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY

STATE COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020

Release Date:  November 3, 2021

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT:  8

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT -- TOTAL
Category 1:  2 -- 0 -- 2
Category 2:  3 -- 3 -- 6
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  5 -- 3 -- 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, Iles
Park Plaza, 740 E. Ash Street,
Springfield, IL 62703
(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

INTRODUCTION

This digest covers the Illinois State
Toll Highway Authority’s (Tollway)
Compliance Examination for the year
ended December 31, 2020. A separate
digest covering the Tollway’s
financial audit for the year ended
December 31, 2020 was previously
released on October 26, 2021. In
total, this report contains 8
findings, 4 of which were reported in
the Financial Audit.

SYNOPSIS

• (20-5) The Tollway has not
established adequate internal controls
over completion of the U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) I-9 Employment Eligibility
Verification (I-9) forms for employees
hired by the Tollway.
• (20-6) The Tollway did not ensure
all employees timecards were properly
approved in accordance with its formal
policies and procedures.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

INADEQUATE CONTROLS OVER COMPLETION
AND RETENTION OF I-9 FORMS

The Tollway has not established
adequate controls over the completion
of the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) I-9
Employment Eligibility Verification
(I-9) forms for employees hired by the
Tollway.

During our sample testing of 40
employees’ personnel files, we noted
the following:

• Thirteen employees (33%) failed to
date section 1 of the I-9 Form by
their respective hire date.

• Eleven employees (28%) did not fully
complete section 1 of the I-9 Form as
there was no indication as to whether
the employee used a preparer,
translator, or other individual to
assist in completing Form I-9 on or
before their respective hire date.

• For one employee (3%) the Tollway
did not complete Section 2 of the I-9
Form.

Failure to complete I-9 forms within
the required timeframe is a violation
of USCIS requirements and could expose
the Tollway to penalties.  (Finding 5,
pages 27-28)

We recommended the Tollway review
their current procedures to prepare,
review, and retain I-9 forms and make
any necessary changes to ensure
compliance with USCIS requirements.

Tollway management concurred with the
finding.

INADEQUATE PROCEDURES TO APPROVE
TIMECARDS

The Illinois State Toll Highway
Authority (the Tollway) did not ensure
all employee timecards were properly
approved in accordance with its formal
policies and procedures.

The Tollway utilizes an electronic
time reporting system that requires
all employees to clock-in at the
beginning of each shift and clock-out
at the end of each shift. Prior to the
COVID-19 pandemic, electronic time
punches were supported by biometric
verification of the employee’s
identity; however, during the pandemic
beginning mid-March 2020 thru year-
end, the biometric verification
portion of the time punch was disabled
for safety purposes. The electronic
reporting system was still utilized
and accessed daily by employees and
supervisors to record time entries and
was used each pay cycle when the
payroll was processed to calculate the
hourly earnings. In addition to this
daily time reporting, the Tollway’s
formal policies and procedures require
each timecard to be certified by the
employee and approved by the
employees’ respective supervisor to
ensure the accuracy of the time
reported, and to ensure any personal,
vacation, sick, or overtime was
properly included and reported.

During our sample testing over 40
timecards, we noted four (10%)
timecards were not approved by the
respective employee’s supervisor/
manager.  (Finding 6, pages 29-30)

We recommend the Tollway review its
current procedures for reviewing
timecards and make any necessary
changes to ensure timecards are
properly approved in accordance with
its formal policies and procedures.

Tollway management concurred with the
recommendation.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings are reportedly
being given attention by the
Authority. We will review the
Authority’s progress towards the
implementation of our recommendations
in our next financial audit and
compliance examination.

AUDITOR’S OPINION

The auditors stated the financial
statements of the Authority as of and
for the year ended December 31, 2020,
are fairly stated in all material
respects.

ACCOUNTANT’S OPINION

The accountants conducted a compliance
examination of the Authority for the
year ended December 31, 2020, as
required by the Illinois State
Auditing Act.  The accountants stated
the Authority complied, in all
material respects, with the specified
requirements.

This compliance examination was
conducted by CliftonLarsonAllen LLP.

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

FJM:TLK