REPORT DIGEST

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

FINANCIAL AUDIT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2021

Release Date:  June 22, 2022

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT:  1

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

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 1

Category 1: Findings that are material
weaknesses in internal control and/or
a qualification on compliance with
State laws and regulations (material
noncompliance).
Category 2: Findings that are
significant deficiencies in internal
control and noncompliance with State
laws and regulations.
Category 3: Findings that have no
internal control issues but are in
noncompliance with State laws and
regulations.

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, 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

SYNOPSIS

• (21-01) The Department did not have
a reconciliation process to provide
assurance census data submitted to its
pension and other postemployment
benefits (OPEB) plans was complete and
accurate.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

LACK OF CENSUS DATA RECONCILIATIONS

The Department of Transportation
(Department) did not have a
reconciliation process to provide
assurance census data submitted to its
pension and other post-employment
benefits (OPEB) plans was complete and
accurate.

During testing, we noted the
following:

1. The Department had not performed an
initial complete reconciliation of its
census data recorded by the State
Employees Retirement System (SERS) to
its internal records to establish a
base year of complete and accurate
census data.

2. After establishing a base year, the
Department had not developed a process
to annually obtain from SERS the
incremental changes recorded by SERS
in their census data records and
reconcile these changes back to the
Department’s internal supporting
records. (Finding 1, pages 62-63)

We recommended the Department work
with SERS to develop an annual
reconciliation process of its active
members’ census data from its
underlying records to a report from
each plan of census data submitted to
each plan’s actuary. We further
recommended, after completing an
initial full reconciliation, the
Department may limit the annual
reconciliations to focus on the
incremental changes to the census data
file from the prior actuarial
valuation, provided no risks are
identified that incomplete or
inaccurate reporting of census data
may have occurred during prior
periods.

Department officials stated they
received the Annual Census Data
Reconciliation Guidance from SERS in
FY22 on July 6, 2021, and a data
encrypted file from SERS on August 9,
2021, for reconciliation of Department
records and they completed its part of
the Census Data Reconciliation for
FY21 on March 31, 2022. Department
officials further stated, they are
awaiting finalization of guidance from
SERS on conducting an annual
reconciliation process of its active
members’ census data to focus on the
incremental changes to the census data
file from prior actuarial valuations.

AUDITOR’S OPINION

The auditors stated the financial
statements of the Department as of and
for the year ended June 30, 2021 are
fairly stated in all material
respects.

This financial audit was conducted by
CliftonLarsonAllen LLP.

JANE CLARK
Division Director

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

FRANK J. MAUTINO
Auditor General

FJM:PH