REPORT DIGEST
ILLINOIS CONSERVATION FOUNDATION
FINANCIAL AUDIT AND COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
For the Year Ended: June 30, 2011
Release Date: February 9, 2012
Summary of Findings:
Total this audit: 4
Total last audit: 5
Repeated from last audit: 4
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
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SYNOPSIS
• The Illinois Conservation Foundation’s (Foundation)
year-end financial statements contained weaknesses and inaccuracies.
• The Foundation did not present information on the internet
concerning their investment of public funds as required by the Accountability
for the Investment of Public Funds Act.
FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
FINANCIAL STATEMENT PREPARATION
The Illinois Conservation Foundations (Foundation) year-end
financial statements contained weaknesses and inaccuracies.
Several errors were identified during the audit of the
Foundation’s draft financial statements.
The Foundation’s financial statements were adjusted for the following
reporting errors:
• An audit adjustment identified by management totaling $4.5
million was made by the auditors to record a donation of land, building and
equipment. As a result, revenue and
assets was increased $4.5 million.
• The Foundation allocated the incorrect amount of on-behalf
payments paid by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources on their
behalf. The Department failed to include
the salary and benefit information paid to the Director’s assistant.
• The Foundation did not complete the comparative schedule
of receipts, disbursements and fund balance (cash basis). (Finding 1, page 14)
We recommended the Foundation implement additional internal
control procedures to ensure financial statements are prepared in an accurate
manner.
Foundation management accepted our recommendation.
NONCOMPLIANCE WITH ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE INVESTMENT OF
PUBLIC FUNDS ACT (ACT)
The Foundation did not present information on the internet
concerning their investments of public funds as required by the Act. The Foundation had various investment
balances (debt securities, equity securities, commodities, mutual funds, real
estate) totaling $2,552,436 that would be classified as public funds at June
30, 2011.
The Accountability for the Investment of Public Funds Act
(30 ILCS 237) requires each State agency to make available on the internet, and
update as least monthly by the 15 of the month, sufficient information
concerning the investment of any public funds held by the State Agency to
identify the amount of funds held by the agency on the last day of the
preceding month or the average daily balance for the preceding month, the total
monthly investment income and the yield for all funds invested, the asset allocation
of the investments, and a complete listing of all approved depository
institutions, commercial paper issuers, and broker-dealers approved to do
business with the agency. (Finding 2,
pages 15-16) This finding was first
reported in 2008.
We recommended the Foundation comply with the requirements
of the Act and ensure the information concerning the investment of public funds
is updated monthly by the 15th of each month.
Foundation management respectfully disagreed with our
recommendation and stated they will seek legislation to clarify its exemption
from the Investment of Public Funds Act.
(For the previous Foundation response, see Digest Footnote #1.)
OTHER FINDINGS
The remaining findings pertain to: 1) disbursement
processing weaknesses and 2) segregation of duties. We will follow up on these findings during
our next audit of the Foundation.
AUDITORS’ OPINION
The
auditors state the financial statements of the Illinois Conservation Foundation
for the year ended June 30, 2011 are fairly stated in all material
respects.
WILLIAM G. HOLLAND
Auditor General
WGH:JSC
AUDITORS ASSIGNED
Kyle E. McGinnis, CPA was our special assistant auditor.
DIGEST FOOTNOTES
#1 – NONCOMPLIANCE WITH ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE INVESTMENT OF
PUBLIC FUNDS ACT (ACT) – Previous Foundation Response
2010: The Foundation respectfully disagrees. The Foundation is already exempt from the Investment of Public Funds Act and will seek legislation to clarify exemption from the subject Act.