REPORT DIGEST ILLINOIS STUDENT ASSISTANCE COMMISSION Compliance Examination For the Two Years Ended: June 30, 2012 Release Date: June 6, 2013 Summary of Findings: • Compliance Examination: 12 • Financial Audit (previously reported 2-21-13): 2 Total findings: 14 Total prior reports: 17 Repeated from last audit: 6 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 and Full Report are also available on the worldwide web at www.auditor.illinois.gov SYNOPSIS This digest covers our compliance examination of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (the “Commission”) for the two years ended June 30, 2012. A financial audit covering the year ending June 30, 2012 was previously released on February 21, 2013. In total this report contains fourteen findings, two of which were also reported in the Financial Audit which was released on February 21, 2013. • The Commission did not submit all contract and late filing affidavits to the Illinois Office of the Comptroller on a timely basis. • The Commission omitted several analytical factors from its assessment of monetary award program recipients. FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS CONTRACTS AND LATE FILING AFFIDAVITS NOT FILED TIMELY The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (Commission) did not submit all contract and late filing affidavits to the Illinois Office of the Comptroller (Comptroller) on a timely basis. During our examination of a sample of contracts, we noted the following: • For contracts paid from appropriated funds, we noted 7 of 50 (14%) were submitted to the Comptroller late, and 6 (12%) required Late Filing Affidavits to be submitted. The contracts were filed 34 to 51 days late. These contracts totaled $3,272,316. • For contracts paid from non-appropriated funds, we noted that 2 of 20 (10%) contracts sampled were submitted to the Comptroller late. Further, the required Late Filing Affidavits were submitted late. One contract was 40 days late and the other 95 days late. The contracts totaled $450,000. According to Commission officials, the late filings were primarily due to a significant increase in the number of contracts in FY 2011. (Finding #5, page 18) This finding was first reported in 2008. We recommended the Commission review its procedures for the filing of contracts with the Comptroller to ensure all documents are submitted in a timely fashion. Commission officials accepted our recommendation and indicated it had implemented quality control measures to help ensure contracts will be filed timely in the future. (For the previous Commission response, see Digest footnote #1) OMISSION OF ANALYTICAL FACTORS FROM MONETARY AWARD PROGRAM ASSESSMENT The Commission omitted several analytical factors from its assessment of monetary award program recipients. During our examination, we noted the Commission failed to assess certain aspects of monetary award program (MAP) recipients including: • analysis of the student’s chosen field of study, • the student’s class level, and • the type of higher education institution the student is enrolled in. Since February 1, 1999, pursuant to the Higher Education Student Assistance Act (Act) (110 ILCS 947/38), the Commission has been required to submit an assessment report on MAP to the General Assembly and the Board of Higher Education at least every two years. According to Commission officials, since legislators are periodically updated on the factors identified in the statute the annual assessment report did not specifically cover all the factors required. (Finding #9, page 23) We recommended the Commission comply with the Act and include all information required in the MAP assessment report, in order to ensure members of the General Assembly have access to all data required by the Act or seek legislative remedy to the statutory requirement. Commission officials accepted our recommendation and indicated that beginning in FY2013 the report included the elements noted, and the information will be included in submissions going forward. OTHER FINDINGS The remaining findings are reportedly being given attention by the Commission. We will review the Commission’s progress towards the implementation of our recommendations in our next engagement. AUDITORS’ OPINION We conducted a compliance examination of the Commission for the two years ended June 30, 2012 as required by the Illinois State Auditing Act. A financial audit covering the year ending June 30, 2012 was issued separately. WILLIAM G. HOLLAND Auditor General WGH:JAF:rt SPECIAL ASSISTANT AUDITORS McGladrey LLP was our special assistant auditors for this engagement. DIGEST FOOTNOTE #1 - Contracts and Late Filing Affidavits Not Filed Timely - Previous Commission Response The Commission will comply with SAMS requirements and file all executed contracts within the required timeframe. The Commission will also ensure that any late filing affidavits that need to be submitted are properly completed.