REPORT DIGEST

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2025

Release Date:  October 8, 2026

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 7

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT – TOTAL
Category 1:  1 -- 2 -- 3
Category 2:  1 -- 3 -- 4
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  2 -- 5 -- 7

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 12

State of Illinois, Office of the Auditor
General
CHRISTOPHER B. MEISTER, 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

• (25-1) The Office did not make all
required appointments to various boards,
commissions, councils, committees, and
other entities to fill vacancies.

• (25-2) The Office did not make the
required appointments to fill vacancies
for certain boards,  commissions,
councils, committees, and task forces it
considered non-operational.

• (25-3) The Office’s internal controls
over its receipt processing function were
not operating effectively during the
examination period.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

APPOINTMENTS OF MEMBERS TO BOARDS,
COMMISSIONS, COUNCILS, AND COMMITTEES

The Office did not make all required
appointments to various boards,
commissions, councils, committees, and
other entities to fill vacancies.

We tested a sample of 49 current laws
which required the Governor to appoint
members to boards, commissions, councils,
and committees which were considered
operational by the Office. Based on
documentation provided by the Office, we
noted 36 of 49 (73%) such entities lacked
the required number of Governor-appointed
members as of June 30, 2025.

Members of boards, commissions, councils,
and committees are generally allowed or
required to continue to serve until a
successor has been appointed.  However, we
noted reappointments or new appointments
had not been made as of June 30, 2025 for
11 of 49 (22%) entities tested for 6
months to over 13 years after expiration
of members’ terms. (Finding 1, pages
10-17) This finding has been reported
since 2007.

We recommended the Office take necessary
measures to ensure timely appointment of
qualified members to the boards,
commissions, councils, committees, and
other entities as required by statute or
seek legislative remedy.

The Office accepted the recommendation and
responded that appointments require a
nuanced level of attention to find
candidates who satisfy the specific
statutory requirements of the position for
the particular board, commission, council,
or committee. The Office stated it
prioritizes the appointment of members to
regulatory boards and those boards that
have insufficient numbers of sitting
members to transact business because they
do not have a quorum.

The Office further noted that those
individuals serving in expired terms on
non-senate confirmed boards, commissions,
councils, and committees are almost always
able to holdover after their statutory
terms have ended and until additional
appointment action can be taken. In such
circumstances, while a vacancy may exist
as to the term of office, the holdover
officers remain authorized to exercise the
duties of the position and may continue to
transact business on behalf of the state
as de facto officers.

In addition, the Office noted that after
the examination period, it pursued a
legislative remedy to address some of the
boards and commissions that are no longer
necessary and sought and obtained
legislative approval of the inclusion of a
process for reviewing boards and
commissions considered to be inactive.

FAILURE TO MAKE APPOINTMENTS TO ENTITIES
CONSIDERED NON-OPERATIONAL

The Office did not make the required
appointments to fill vacancies for certain
boards, commissions, councils, committees,
and task forces it considered non-
operational.

We noted 37 of 86 (43%) mandated boards,
commissions, councils, and committees
tested were considered non-operational by
the Office.  Statutory requirements for 12
of the non-operational entities were
subsequently repealed and the remaining 25
(68%) such entities lacked current
appointments by the Office as of June 30,
2025:

• The Office did not make appointments to
fill vacancies or expired terms to 20 of
25 (80%) boards, commissions, councils,
and committees tested, which the Office
stated were non-operational during the
examination period.
• The Office did not make the required
number of appointments to fill all
positions on 1 committee tested.
• Four of 37 (11%) entities tested were
not created, thus no members were
appointed. (Finding 2, pages 18-22) This
finding has been reported since 2019.

We recommended the Office strengthen
internal controls over required
appointments to boards, commissions,
councils and committees. We specifically
recommended the Office monitor vacancies
and changes in operational status of
entities, document conclusions reached and
actions taken, and either comply with
statutory requirements or seek a
legislative remedy.

The Office accepted our recommendation and
noted that it subsequently sought and
obtained legislative approval of the
inclusion in Illinois law of a process for
reviewing boards and commissions
considered to be inactive.

RECEIPT PROCESSING INTERNAL CONTROLS NOT
OPERATING EFFECTIVELY

The Office’s internal controls over its
receipt 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 System (ERP) operated by
the Department of Innovation and
Technology (DoIT), we were able to limit
our receipt testing at the Office to
determine whether certain key attributes
were properly entered by the Office’s
staff into the ERP.  In order to determine
the operating effectiveness of the
Office’s internal controls related to
receipt processing, we selected a sample
of key attributes (attributes) to
determine if the attributes were properly
entered into the ERP System based on
supporting documentation.

Our testing noted 4 of 20 (20%) attributes
were not properly entered into the ERP
System.  Therefore, the Office’s internal
controls over receipt processing were not
operating effectively. (Finding 3, pages
23-24)

We recommended the Office design and
maintain internal controls to provide
assurance its data entry of key attributes
into ERP is complete and accurate.

The Office accepted this finding and
responded that controls have been
implemented and confirmation of date
fields on the ERP system and reports have
been reviewed. The Office also stated
staff has established standard operating
procedures to aid in better control and
support the Office and to ensure that data
entered is complete and accurate.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings pertain to personal
services, property, and information
technology. 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, 2025, as
required by the Illinois State Auditing
Act.  The accountants qualified their
report on State compliance for Findings
2025-001 through 2025-003. Except for the
noncompliance described in these findings,
the accountants stated the Office
complied, in all material respects, with
the requirements described in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by Adelfia, LLC.

DENNIS M. GIBBONS
Division Director

This report is transmitted in accordance
with Section 3-14 of the Illinois State
Auditing Act.

CHRISTOPHER B. MEISTER
Auditor General

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