FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
MOTOR VEHCILE AND TRANSPORTATION REGULATORY FUND BALANCES
The fund balance of the Transportation Regulatory Fund exceeded the fund balance
permitted by the Illinois Commercial Transportation Law (625 ILCS 5/18c-1503) for both
fiscal years 1999 and 1998.
The balance in the Transportation Regulatory Fund exceeded the statutory limits by
$5,127,815 at June 30, 1999 and by $4,514,815 at June 30, 1998. (Finding 1, pages 12-13).
We recommended the Commission either continue to work to reduce the fund balance in the
Transportation Regulatory Fund to a level that is in compliance with State law or work
with the legislature to change the current law.
Commission officials agreed with the recommendation and stated that fees have been
reduced in an attempt to lower the fund balance. However, motor carrier contributions to
the Fund have continued to accelerate. Commission personnel believe that anticipated
carrier safety initiatives and the threat of elimination of the Single State Registration
System will begin to slow the growth of the fund and eventually eliminate the surplus in
the future.
PROPERTY CONTROL
The Commission’s property control records were not adequately maintained and
prepared in a timely manner. Property records did not contain adequate documentation for
numerous deletions during the audit period. Furthermore, many deletions were subtracted
more than once, and numerous assets were deleted from the records without proper prior
approval from the Department of Central Management Services. These errors totaled $141,000
in FY99 and $134,000 in FY98. (Finding 4, pages 17–18). This finding has been
repeated since 1995.
We recommended the Commission implement the necessary controls to ensure the
property records are accurate and reconcile with the Commission’s financial records.
Commission officials concurred with our recommenda-tion and stated that corrective
action has been taken on all items noted by the audit. (For previous Commission responses,
see Digest footnote #1)
OTHER FINDINGS
The remaining findings concerned procedural deficiencies and are being given
attention by the Commission. We will review progress toward implementation of these
recommendations during the Commission’s next compliance audit.
AUDITORS’ OPINION
The auditor’s state the Commission’s financial statements as of June
30, 1999 and June 30, 1998 and for the years then ended.are fairly presented in all
material respects.
____________________________________
WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, Auditor General
WGH:KAL:pp
SPECIAL ASSISTANT AUDITORS
Doehring, Winders & Co. LLP were our special assistant auditors for this
audit.
DIGEST FOOTNOTES
#1 PROPERTY CONTROL – Previous Commission Response
1997: "Over the past year, the Commission has implemented several new fiscal
controls. The Commission reorganized the budget and accounting office and hired an
additional employee who is responsible for property control. The Commission also purchased
a new bar code inventory system to enable easier tracking and entry of items added,
deleted, and inventoried. The Commission performed a complete physical inventory as of
June 30, 1997 and had discrepancies less than the 2% tolerable limit required by Central
Management Services Property Control Management."
1995: "We concur with this finding. The Commission notes that its property control
records indicated a higher amount of assets than the Comptroller’s records.
Therefore, this discrepancy in records should not be interpreted to indicate that the
Commission had lost or could not account for equipment.
The Commission is in the process of filling a fiscal officer position in the
Administrative Services Division. The addition of this position will redistribute a
portion of the workload currently assigned to the agency’s Controller. This will
allow sufficient time for existing staff in the Controller’s Office to perform all
inventory and property control reconciliation activities in a timely and consistent
manner."
