REPORT DIGEST

HISTORIC PRESERVATION AGENCY

FINANCIAL AND COMPLIANCE AUDIT

For the Two Years Ended:

June 30, 2002

Summary of Findings:

Total this audit 2
Total last audit 4
Repeated from last audit 0

Release Date:
April 8, 2003

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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
Attn: Records Manager
Iles Park Plaza
740 E. Ash Street
Springfield, IL 62703

(217)782-6046 or TDD (217) 524-4646

This Report Digest is also available on
the worldwide web at
http://www.state.il.us/auditor

  

 

 

SYNOPSIS

 

 

 
  • The Agency was not in compliance with several areas of the Illinois Historic Preservation Act including:
  • The Advisory Council membership was incomplete.
  • The Illinois Register of Historic Places was not adequately maintained.
  • The Agency did not properly complete certain accounting reports (GAAP forms) submitted to the Office of the State Comptroller for use in preparing the State's basic financial statements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

{Expenditures and Activity Measures are summarized on the reverse page.}

 

 

 

HISTORIC PRESERVATION AGENCY
FINANCIAL AND COMPLIANCE AUDIT
For The Years Ended June 30, 2002
EXPENDITURE STATISTICS

FY 2002

FY 2001

FY 2000

Total Expenditures (All Funds)

$18,511,092

$19,137,229

$23,117,273
OPERATIONS TOTAL
% of Total Expenditures
Personal Services
% of Operations Expenditures
Average No. of Employees
Other Payroll Costs (FICA, Retirement, Insurance)
% of Operations Expenditures
Contractual Services
% of Operations Expenditures
All Other Operations Items
% of Operations Expenditures
AWARDS AND GRANTS TOTAL
% of Total Expenditures
PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS TOTAL
% of Total Expenditures
NON-APPROPRIATED EXPENDITURES
% of Total Expenditures
Cost of Property and Equipment

$16,415,895
88.7%
$9,863,464
60.1%
248
$2,157,354
13.1%
$1,949,824
11.9%
$2,445,253
14.9%
$695,501
3.8%
$1,132,919
6.1%
$266,777
1.4%
$121,452,566

$15,936,521
83.3%
$9,417,101
59.1%
243
$2,044,427
12.8%
$1,828,325
11.5%
$2,646,668
16.6%
$1,950,741
10.2%
$1,120,011
5.8%
$129,956
.7%
$114,731,415

$15,294,050
66.2%
$8,977,070
58.7%
231
$1,925,275
12.6%
$1,918,822
12.5%
$2,472,883
16.2%
$6,010,533
26.0%
$1,604,398
6.9%
$208,292
.9%
$106,773,054
SELECTED ACTIVITY MEASURES

FY 2002

FY 2001

FY 2000
Visitors to Sites:

All State-owned Historical Sites

2,640,037

2,664,233

2,900,325

Lincoln’s New Salem

575,067

591,449

541,618

Cahokia Mounds

399,622

362,810

369,681

Lincoln's Tomb

301,187

321,710

401,453

Old State Capitol/Lincoln Herndon

181,807

180,288

188,811

IL Vietnam Veterans Memorial

176,205

189,514

188,836

Galena Complex

167,445

159,451

221,127
AGENCY DIRECTOR(S)

During Audit Period: Susan Mogerman (thru 5-31-02), Maynard Crossland (eff. 6-1-02)
Currently: Maynard Crossland
 

 

 

Advisory Council membership incomplete

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illinois Register of Historic Places not adequately maintained

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capital Asset Reports to the State Comptroller were not properly completed

 

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

NONCOMPLIANCE WITH ILLINOIS HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT

The Agency was not in compliance with several areas of the Illinois Historic Preservation Act. The Act establishes the Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council which is supposed to be comprised of 15 members appointed by the Director, consisting of at least three archeologists. We noted the Council only had 14 members, two of whom are archeologists. In addition, there are supposed to be three non-voting members as follows: 1) the Division Chief of the Historical Library Division, 2) the Director of the Illinois State Museum, and 3) the Chairperson of the Historical Markers Committee of the Illinois State Historical Society. The Council, however, only had the Director of the Illinois State Museum as a non-voting member. The Historical Markers Committee is no longer in existence. Further, the designee of the Division Chief of the Historical Library Division retired in March 2001 and this non-voting member position had not been filled.

The Act requires the Agency to establish and maintain an Illinois Register of Historic Places, consisting of places that have special historical, architectural, archeological, cultural, or artistic interest or value. The Agency had not added any properties to the Illinois Register since 1989. Instead, property owners are encouraged to apply for a listing in the National Register. The Agency feels that the National Register provides more benefits, such as federal grant funds, to the property owners and an Illinois Register would merely function as a duplicate. (Finding 1, pages 11-12)

Agency officials concurred with our finding and stated they are willing to seek legislation to reduce the number of required archeologists from three to two. In addition, they plan to fill the non-voting positions on the Council in the near future. They also will initiate the necessary legislation to repeal the Illinois Register of Historic Places.

IMPROPER CAPITAL ASSET REPORTING

The Agency did not properly complete certain accounting reports (GAAP forms) submitted to the Office of the State Comptroller in order to prepare the State's basic financial statements. We noted specifically:
  • The Agency initially used the wrong threshold amount to determine the restated balance for Nondepreciable Historical Treasures and Works of Art at July 1, 2001. A threshold of $25,000 was used instead of the $5,000 set forth by the Office of the State Comptroller. The Agency subsequently prepared revised financial information using the $5,000 threshold.
  • The Agency's amounts reported to the State Comptroller as Site Improvements were overstated. Each historic site had one line item on the property control records that was labeled site improvements. In preparing the accounting reports the Agency applied the threshold to this cumulative site improvement balance when the individual site improvements may not have exceeded the threshold. This method also misrepresents accumulated depreciation.
  • The Agency did not provide complete revised Capital Asset reports (GAAP forms) that could be agreed to Agency records. A construction-in-progress amount was reported in one section of the report, however, the components section to describe the construction was not completed. Also, capital assets were deleted without a corresponding entry to delete accumulated depreciation.

Misstatements in these accounting reports could result in misstated statewide financial statements. (Finding 2, pages 13-14)

We recommended the Agency adhere to generally accepted accounting principles and the instructions provided by the Office of the State Comptroller for year-end financial reporting.

Agency officials concurred and stated they are in the process of correcting GAAP forms and agreeing on procedures to resolve the errors noted.

AUDITORS’ OPINION

Our auditors stated the Historic Preservation Agency’s financial statements of the Illinois Historic Sites Fund and Illinois Historic Preservation Trust Fund as of and for the year ended June 30, 2002, were fairly presented in all material respects.

 

 

____________________________________

WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, Auditor General

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SPECIAL ASSISTANT AUDITORS

Our special assistant auditors for this audit were Martin & Shadid, CPAs, P.C.