REPORT DIGEST OFFICE OF THE TREASURER - NONFISCAL OFFICER RESPONSIBILITIES COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION For the Two Years Ended: June 30, 2013 Release Date:   April 22, 2014 Summary of Findings: Total this audit: 3 Total last audit:  3 Repeated from last audit: 2 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, 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 SYNOPSIS • The State of Illinois, Office of the Treasurer (Office) has not established adequate policies and procedures related to the recruitment, management, and monitoring of the Office’s internship program. • The Office needs to improve controls over unclaimed property. FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS NEED TO IMPROVE CONTROLS OVER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM During testing, the auditors inquired about various policies and procedures associated with the Office’s internship program. Auditors noted a lack of detailed policies and procedures regarding the recruitment, management, and monitoring of the internship program. During testing, the following deficiencies were noted: • The Office did not perform and document a detailed cost-benefit analysis to determine appropriate intern staffing needs. • Eight of 11 (73%) interns tested did not have an application on file. • Eleven of 11 (100%) interns tested did not have proper documentation that they met specific job qualifications as no specific job descriptions, qualifications, or hiring practices had been established by the Office. (Finding 1, pages 9-10) We recommended the Office adopt formal documented policies and procedures and enhance its controls over the Office’s internship program. The Treasurer agreed with the finding and recommendation and stated they will develop policies and procedures for the hiring of interns. NEED TO IMPROVE CONTROLS OVER UNCLAIMED PROPERTY The Office did not have adequate controls over unclaimed property. We noted the following deficiencies: • The Office did not transfer firearms to the Department of State Police. During testing, we noted the Office had 30 firearms in its unclaimed property inventory as of June 30, 2013. These 30 firearms were contained in 11 safe deposit boxes and were received between April 26, 2010 and April 29, 2013. The last time the Office transferred firearms to the Department of State Police was on June 25, 2010. • Five of 11 (45%) safe deposit box owner notifications were published in a newspaper from 165 to 346 days after the statutory publication deadline. • Three of 5 (60%) auction notices were published between 8 and 17 days late. • One of 25 (4%) items tested was sold for $135 less than the reserve amount. (Finding 3, pages 13-14) We recommended the Office enhance its controls over the safeguarding of unclaimed property. The Treasurer agreed with the finding and recommendation and stated they have enhanced unclaimed property controls. OTHER FINDING The remaining finding pertains to conducting employee performance appraisals timely and lack of job descriptions for some employees. We will review the Office’s progress toward the implementation of our recommendations in our next examination. AUDITORS’ OPINION Our special assistant auditors conducted a compliance examination of the Treasurer’s Nonfiscal Officer Responsibilities as required by the Illinois State Auditing Act.  The accountant’s report does not contain any scope limitations, disclosures or other significant non-standard language. WILLIAM G. HOLLAND Auditor General WGH:TMH SPECIAL ASSISTANT AUDITORS McGladrey LLP were our special assistant auditors for this engagement.