REPORT DIGEST
REGIONAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION #47: LEE AND OGLE
COUNTIES
FINANCIAL AUDIT (In Accordance with the Single
Audit Act and OMB Circular A-133) For the Year
Ended: June 30, 2013

Release Date: July 10, 2014

Summary of Findings: Total this audit: 1
Total last audit: 2
Repeated from last audit: 1

State of Illinois, Office of the Auditor
General WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, AUDITOR GENERAL

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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

• The Regional Office of Education #47 did not
have sufficient internal controls over the
financial reporting process.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
CONTROLS OVER FINANCIAL STATEMENT PREPARATION
The Regional Office of Education #47 is
required to maintain a system of controls over
the preparation of financial statements in
accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles (GAAP). The Regional Office’s
internal controls over GAAP financial
reporting should include adequately trained
personnel with the knowledge, skills and
experience to prepare GAAP based financial
statements and include all disclosures as
required by the Governmental Accounting
Standards Board (GASB).

The Regional Office of Education #47 did not
have sufficient internal controls over the
financial reporting process. While the
Regional Office maintains controls over the
processing of most accounting transactions,
there are not sufficient controls over the
preparation of the GAAP based financial
statements for management or employees in the
normal course of performing their assigned
functions to prevent or detect and correct
financial statement misstatements and
disclosure omissions in a timely manner.

During review of the Regional Office of
Education #47’s financial information prepared
by the Regional Office of Education #47, it
was noted that the Regional Office did not
have adequate controls over the maintenance of
records of due from other governments,
accounts payable and due to other

governments. While the Regional Office did
maintain records to indicate the balances due
from other governments, accounts payable and
due to other governments, audit adjustments
were proposed in order to ensure financial
statement balances were accurate.

Management did not effectively detect all of
the adjustments needed in order to present
financial statements in accordance with GAAP.
(Finding 2013-001, pages 13-14)	This finding
was first reported in 2009.

The auditors recommended that, as part of
internal control over the preparation of
financial statements, including disclosures,
the Regional Office of Education #47 should
implement comprehensive preparation procedures
to ensure that the financial statements,
including disclosures, are complete and
accurate. These procedures should be performed
by a properly trained individual possessing a
thorough understanding of applicable generally
accepted accounting principles, GASB
pronouncements, and knowledge of the Regional
Office of Education #47’s activities and
operations.

The Regional Office of Education #47 responded
that as part of its internal control over the
preparation of its financial statements, the
Regional Office has implemented a
comprehensive preparation and/or review
procedure to ensure that the financial
statements, including disclosures, are
complete and accurate on a monthly basis. The
Regional Superintendent will continue to
review all financial statements (including
accruals) striving to be as accurate as
possible, hoping to eliminate this finding in
the future. (For previous Regional Office
response, see Digest Footnote #1.)

AUDITORS’ OPINION

Our auditors state the Regional Office of
Education #47’s financial statements as of
June 30, 2013 are fairly presented in all
material respects.

WILLIAM G. HOLLAND
Auditor General WGH:JRB
AUDITORS ASSIGNED: Winkel, Parker & Foster,
CPA PC were our special assistant auditors.
DIGEST FOOTNOTE
#1: Controls Over Financial Statement
Preparation - Previous Regional Office
Response

In its prior response in 2012, the Regional
Office of Education #47 responded that as part
of its internal control over the preparation
of its financial statements, the Regional
Office has implemented a comprehensive
preparation and/or review procedure to ensure
that the financial statements, including
disclosures, are complete and accurate on a
monthly basis. The Regional Superintendent
will continue to review all financial
statements (including accruals) striving to be
as accurate as possible, hoping to eliminate
this finding in the future.