REPORT DIGEST

OFFICE OF THE STATE APPELLATE DEFENDER

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2024

Release Date:  February 25, 2025

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 2

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

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 4

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

• (24-01) The Office of the State Appellate
Defender (Office) did not exercise adequate
controls over reporting of State property.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

INADEQUATE CONTROLS OVER REPORTING STATE
PROPERTY

The Office did not exercise adequate
controls over reporting of State property.

When testing for accuracy of the Office’s
Agency’s Report of State Property (C-15)
reports filed with the Illinois Office of
Comptroller (Comptroller), we noted the
Office’s property
records as of June 30, 2024, and 2023 did
not agree with the C-15 reports submitted to
the Comptroller, showing discrepancies of
approximately $558,508 and $306,
respectively. The Office successfully
reconciled both discrepancies at June 30,
2023 and June 30, 2024. The June 30, 2023
amount was identified as an error in
preparation of the C-15 report that was
subsequently reversed, and the June 30, 2024
discrepancy was due to four portable hard
drives that were on the property record but
not reported on the C-15 report. (Finding 1,
pages 10-11)

We recommended the Office design and
maintain internal controls to ensure the
amounts reported on the C-15 reports filed
with the Comptroller are accurate and in
compliance with SAMS.

The Office accepted our recommendation.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining finding pertains to lack of
adequate controls over receipts processing.
We will review the Office’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 Office 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 Finding 2024-001.  Except for
the noncompliance described in this finding,
the accountants stated the Office complied,
in all material respects, with the
requirements described in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by West & Company, 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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