REPORT DIGEST

STATE POLICE MERIT BOARD

COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2022

Release Date:  June 27, 2024

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 10

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT – TOTAL
Category 1:  0 -- 1 -- 1
Category 2:  1 -- 7 -- 8
Category 3:  1 -- 0 -- 1
TOTAL:  2 -- 8 -- 10

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 9

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, 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

• (22-01) The State Police Merit Board
(Board) did not have adequate controls over
personal services.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

PERSONAL SERVICES WEAKNESSES

The State Police Merit Board (Board) did not
have adequate controls over personal
services.

We noted the following weaknesses during
testing of personal services:

Payroll Voucher Testing

• Six of 20 (30%) payroll vouchers tested,
totaling $134,713, were paid from the State
Police Merit Board Public Safety Fund (Fund
0166), a special State fund, but did not
include applicable employer group insurance
cost remittance, required to be paid to the
Department of Central Management Services
(DCMS).

Employee Testing

During testing of three employees, we noted
the following:

• One of 3 (33%) employee files tested did
not contain a U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Service (USCIS) I-9 Employment
Eligibility Verification Form (Form I-9).

• For one of 3 (33%) employees tested, the
Board did not retain the employee's Illinois
W-4 Employee's Withholding Exemption
Certificate (Form C-25).

• For one of 3 (33%) of employees tested,
the Board did not correctly calculate the
amount of fringe benefits for personal use
of a State vehicle.

Overtime Testing

• For one of 8 (13%) overtime slips tested,
for one of 3 (33%) employees, the overtime
slip was not submitted for approval on a
weekly basis.

• One of 8 (13%) overtime slips tested, for
one of 3 (33%) employees, was approved by
the employee submitting the overtime.

Timekeeping Testing

• For one of 11 (9%) timesheets, for one of
3 employees (33%), the employee did not
properly fill out their timesheet.
Specifically, the type of leave was not
noted on the timesheet.

Agency Workforce Report

• The Board filed its amended Fiscal Year
2017, 2018, and 2019 Agency Workforce
Reports with the Secretary of State four
days after the required time period.

• The Board did not file amended Fiscal Year
2017, 2018, and 2019 Agency Workforce
Reports with the Office of the Governor
within 30 days of the release of the prior
compliance report. The amended reports were
filed 4 days late.

• The Board did not report the number of
workers broken out by contractual, positions
opening, opening filled – new hires, and
opening filled – promotion, reported in
Fiscal Year 2021 and Fiscal Year 2022
Reports. (Finding 1, pages 11-14) This
finding has been reported since 2018.

We recommended the Board ensure:

• applicable employer group insurance cost
remittance is included in payroll vouchers
and paid to DCMS;
• a Form I-9 and Form C-25 is properly
maintained for each employee;
• fringe benefits for the personal use of a
State vehicle are included in the employee’s
taxable income;
• overtime is properly and timely approved;
• attendance records are completed
accurately;
• Agency Workforce Reports are accurate and
properly submitted as required; and,
• corrected Agency Workforce Reports are
filed with the Secretary of State and Office
of the Governor as required by the Illinois
State Auditing Act (30 ILCS 5/3-2.2).

The Board agreed and accepted all
recommendations. The Board stated it began
taking actions to remediate these findings
as it was made aware of them during the
examination.

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings pertain to voucher
processing and property weaknesses,
procedural deficiencies, inadequate controls
over petty cash, information systems,
reconciliations, and travel, Board
vacancies, and noncompliance with the State
Police Act. We will review the Board’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 Board for the two years
ended June 30, 2022, as required by the
Illinois State Auditing Act.  The
accountants qualified their report on State
compliance for Finding 2022-001.  Except for
the noncompliance described in this finding,
the accountants stated the Board complied,
in all material respects, with the
requirements described in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by the Office of the Auditor
General’s staff.

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:sdw