REPORT DIGEST

REGIONAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION #47: LEE,
OGLE AND WHITESIDE COUNTIES

FINANCIAL AUDIT (IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
UNIFORM GUIDANCE)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2025

Release Date:  October 7, 2026

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 1

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

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 2

State of Illinois, Office of the Auditor
General
CHRISTOPHER B. MEISTER, 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

• (25-1) The Regional Office of Education
#47 did not maintain adequate internal
controls over the grant accounting and
financial reporting process.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

NONCOMPLIANCE WITH GRANT REQUIREMENTS

The Regional Office of Education #47 (ROE)
did not maintain adequate internal
controls over the grant accounting and
financial reporting process. While the
Regional Office of Education #47 maintains
controls over the processing of
expenditures, there are not sufficient
controls over the general ledger and
financial statement reporting process for
management or employees in the normal
course of performing their assigned
functions to prevent, or detect and
correct, discrepancies between grant
expenditures reports, the general ledger,
financial statements, and supplementary
information.

During our review of the Regional Office
of Education 47’s grant expenditures, it
was noted that the Regional Office of
Education #47 did not have adequate
controls to ensure accuracy and
consistency between grant expenditures
reports, general ledger, financial
statements, and supplementary information.
Audit procedures revealed differences
between the grant expenditures reports and
the Regional Office of Education #47’s
financial statements and General Ledger
(GL) as shown below: (Please see PDF
version of this digest for chart.)

Management was unable to provide
documentation to support and reconcile the
federal and State grant differences of
$(10,830) and $5,217, respectively.

Title 2 U.S. Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR) Part 200, Uniform Administrative
Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit
Requirements for Federal Awards (Uniform
Guidance), Section 200.303 – Internal
Controls requires an agency to establish
and maintain effective internal control
over the federal award to provide
reasonable assurance that Federal awards
are managed in compliance with Federal
statutes, regulations, and the terms and
conditions of the Federal award.

Additionally, the Regional Office of
Education #47 must comply with grant
accounting and reporting requirements
established by grant agreements with the
Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE)
and other grantors in addition to the
requirements established by ISBE’s fiscal
policies and procedures for grantees.
Among these requirements are accurate,
current, and complete disclosure of grant
financial activity to the grantor. In
addition, strong internal controls are
necessary and include reconciling grant
financial reports with supporting
accounting records and ensuring that all
reports are reviewed and approved by a
responsible official prior to submission.

Regional Office management did not perform
a timely review and reconciliation of
federal and State grant expenditure
reports to the general ledger, financial
statements, and supplementary information
for accuracy and consistency.  (Finding
2025-001, pages 15a-15b)

The auditors recommended that the ROE
implement comprehensive procedures to
ensure the accuracy of grant accounting
and reporting including:

a. Establish accountability for timely
reconciliation of grant reimbursement
reports to the general ledger, financial
statements, and supplementary information.
b. Integrate into the year-end closing
procedures documentation of the
reconciliation including the sign-offs of
preparer and review by a responsible
official prior to submission.

ROE Response: Management agrees with the
recommendation and will implement
additional procedures to formally document
the reconciliation of grant expenditure
reports to the general ledger and
financial statements prior to submission
and as part of the year-end closing
process. The Regional Office believes
grant expenditures were properly accounted
for; however, management recognizes the
need for enhanced documentation of the
reconciliation process and will implement
preparer and reviewer sign-offs to ensure
consistency and strengthen internal
controls over grant financial reporting.

AUDITORS’ OPINION

Our auditors state the Regional Office of
Education #47’s financial statements as of
June 30, 2025 are fairly presented in all
material respects.

This financial audit was conducted by the
firm of Prado & Renteria Certified Public
Accountants.

TRICIA WAGNER
Division Director

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

CHRISTOPHER B. MEISTER
Auditor General

CBM:JMT