REPORT DIGEST

ILLINOIS STATE
UNIVERSITY

FINANCIAL AND
COMPLIANCE AUDIT
(In Accordance with the
Single Audit Act
Amendments of 1996, and
OMB Circular A-133)
For the Year Ended:
June 30, 1998

Summary of Findings:

Release Date:
May 20, 1999

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 University did not have controls in place to prevent duplicate payments to vendors. In testing refund receipts we identified where the University received $3,754 for duplicate payments made to vendors.

• The University did not accurately and timely submit two required travel headquarters reports to the Legislative Audit Commission.
  

{Financial Information is summarized on the reverse page.}

Employee included on report no longer worked for the University since July 1997

DUPLICATE PAYMENTS TO VENDORS

During our testing of the University’s refund account, we noted that 15 of 59 (25%) receipts, totaling $3,754.30, were refunds of duplicate payments made to vendors. University employees pick up merchandise from the vendor and submit the voucher to the respective department for payment. The vendor also sends an original invoice to the department, which in turn forwards it to the Comptroller’s Office to be paid.

Prudent business practices require controls to be in place to ensure that vendors are only paid once for services rendered. Failure of the departments to implement controls to avoid duplicate payments has resulted in overpayments to vendors and inefficient use of State funds. (Finding 98-2, page 14)

We recommended the University establish procedures to ensure that vendors are not paid twice for the same charge. University management agreed with our recommendation.

The University did not accurately and timely submit two required travel headquarters reports (TA-2) to the Legislative Audit Commission (LAC). During our testing we identified the following exceptions:

The TA-2 forms were received by the LAC on January 20, 1998 and July 24, 1998, 5 days and 9 days late respectively.

One employee’s residence in Michigan was listed as the official headquarters when most of his University time was spent in the Chicago metropolitan area. This employee was reimbursed $2,057 to commute back and forth from his residence to the Chicago metropolitan area.

One person listed on the report was no longer employed by the University and had not been employed there since July 1997.

Four employees spent the majority of their time in Champaign but had their headquarters listed as Normal.

Reports are required to be accurately completed and filed with the LAC by the 15^th day of July and January of each year. Exceptions in designating an employee’s official headquarters should be based on whether or not such an exception will promote the efficient and economical conduct of the employee’s duties. (Finding 98-3, page 15)

We recommended the University personnel ensure the LAC receives accurate TA-2 forms by the reporting deadline. Additionally, we recommended the University personnel review travel to ensure that State funds are not used to pay commuting expenses.

University management agreed with our recommendation.

_____________________________________
WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, Auditor General

WGH:RPU:pp

Olive LLP were our special assistant auditors for this audit.