REPORT DIGEST
ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2024

Release Date:  April 29, 2025

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 27

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT – TOTAL
Category 1:  1 -- 6 -- 7
Category 2:  3 -- 17 -- 20
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  4 -- 23 -- 27

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 32

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

• (24-5) The Illinois Department of Veterans
Affairs’ (Department) internal controls over
its voucher processing function were not
operating effectively during the examination
period.

• (24-6) The Department did not exercise
adequate control over the recording,
reporting, and inventorying of State
property.

• (24-14) The Department failed to complete
annual performance evaluations timely.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

VOUCHER PROCESSING INTERNAL CONTROLS NOT
OPERATING EFFECTIVELY

The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs’
(Department) internal controls over its
voucher processing function were not
operating effectively during the examination
period.

Due to our ability to rely upon the
processing integrity of the Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) System operated by
the Department of Innovation and Technology
(DoIT), we were able to limit our voucher
testing at the Department to determine
whether certain key attributes were properly
entered by the Department’s staff into the
ERP System.

Our testing noted 4 of 140 (3%) attributes
were not properly entered into the ERP
System. Therefore, the Department’s internal
controls over voucher processing were not
operating effectively.

Due to this condition, we qualified our
opinion because we determined the Department
had not complied, in all material respects,
with applicable laws and regulations,
including the State uniform accounting
system, in its financial and fiscal
operations.

Even given the limitations noted above, we
conducted an analysis of the Department’s
expenditure data for Fiscal Years 2023 and
2024 to determine compliance with the State
Prompt Payment Act and the Illinois
Administrative Code and noted the following
noncompliance:

• Department owed 27 vendors interest
totaling $5,944 in Fiscal Years 2023 and
2024; however, the Department had not
approved these vouchers for payment to the
vendors.

• The Department did not timely approve
3,110 of 33,172 (9%) vouchers processed
during the examination period, totaling
$14,765,270. These vouchers were approved
between 1 and 446 days late. (Finding 5,
pages 28-30)

We recommended the Department design and
maintain internal controls to provide
assurance its data entry of key attributes
into the ERP System is complete and
accurate. Further, we recommended the
Department approve proper bills within 30
days of receipt and approve vouchers for
payment of interest due to vendors.

The Department accepted our recommendations.

INADEQUATE CONTROLS OVER THE PURCHASE,
RECORDING, AND REPORTING OF STATE PROPERTY

The Department did not exercise adequate
control over the recording, reporting, and
inventorying of State property.

A few issues we noted during our testing of
State property follow:

• Two of 20 (10%) property items tested were
assigned tag numbers and included on the
Department’s reports to the Department of
Central Management Services (CMS), but had
previously been sold or replaced. These
items were valued at $222,053.

• During our testing over additions to the
Department’s property records, we noted 2 of
40 (5%) assets tested totaling $8,350 were
not added timely to the Department’s
property records. These items were added 63
and 3,890 days late.

• Additions and deletions per the
Department’s property records did not agree
with the additions and deletions per the
Department’s C-15 reports. See differences
noted for Fiscal Year 2024 in the table
below:

Transaction – Deletions  –  Additions
FY24 Q4
Per Property Records:  $203,552 -- $447,411
Per C-15:  $75,929 -- $486,132
Difference:  $127,623 -- $38,721

(Finding 6, pages 31-34) This finding has
been reported since 2008.

We recommended the Department strengthen
internal controls over the recording and
reporting of State property by strengthening
its inventory and recordkeeping practices to
ensure compliance with statutory and
regulatory requirements.

The Department accepted our recommendation.

EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS NOT
PERFORMED TIMELY

The Department failed to complete annual
performance evaluations timely.

During our testing of 40 employee personnel
files containing 66 evaluations, we noted
the following:

• Evaluations were not performed on a timely
basis for 19 of 66 (29%) evaluations tested.
The evaluations were performed from 2 to 496
days late.

• The Department could not provide
evaluations for 12 of 66 (18%) evaluations
tested. (Finding 14, pages 49-50) This
finding has been reported since 2008.

We recommended the Department take
appropriate measures to ensure performance
evaluations are conducted timely and related
documentation is maintained.

The Department accepted our recommendation.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings are reportedly being
given attention by Department personnel. We
will review the Department’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 Department for the two
years ended June 30, 2024, as required by
the Illinois State Auditing Act. The
accountants qualified their report on State
compliance for Findings 2024-001 through
2024-007.  Except for the noncompliance
described in these findings, the accountants
stated the Department complied, in all
material respects, with the requirements
described in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by Sikich CPA 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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