REPORT DIGEST

ILLINOIS STUDENT ASSISTANCE COMMISSION

FINANCIAL AUDIT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2021

Release Date:  June 2, 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: 2

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

INTRODUCTION

This digest covers the Illinois
Student Assistance Commission’s
(Commission) financial audit for the
year ended June 30, 2021.  Included in
the financial statements of the
Commission are the Illinois Prepaid
Tuition Program (Program), a major
fund of the Commission and the State
of Illinois and the Illinois
Designated Account Purchase Program
(IDAPP), a major fund of the
Commission.

SYNOPSIS

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

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

LACK OF CENSUS DATA RECONCILIATIONS

The Commission did not have a
reconciliation process to provide
assurance census data submitted to its
pension and other postemployment
benefits (OPEB) plans that was
complete and accurate.

During testing, we noted the
Commission had not performed an
initial complete reconciliation of its
census data recorded by the State
Employees’ Retirement System of
Illinois (SERS) to its internal
records to establish a base year of
complete and accurate census data.
After establishing a base year, the
Commission 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
Commission’s internal supporting
records. (Finding 1, page 153-154)

We recommended the Commission 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
the plan’s actuary. After completing
an initial full reconciliation, the
Commission may limit the annual
reconciliation 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.

Commission officials accepted our
recommendation and stated after Fiscal
Year 2021 the Commission completed an
initial full reconciliation and
implemented an annual reconciliation
process.

AUDITOR’S OPINION

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

This financial audit was conducted by
Crowe 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:JGR