July 28, 2008
William G. Holland
Auditor General
Dear Mr. Holland:
We have reviewed the
system of quality control of the Illinois Office of the Auditor General (the
office) in effect for fiscal year financial statement audits, single audits,
and attestation engagements for the years ended April 30, 2007, June 30, 2007,
September 30, 2007, and December 31, 2007 which were released on or before June
30, 2008, and for performance audits released between July 1, 2007 and June 30,
2008. A system of quality control
encompasses the office’s organizational structure and the policies adopted and
procedures established to provide it with reasonable assurance of conforming with government auditing standards. The design of the system and compliance with
it are the responsibility of the office.
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the design of the system,
and the office’s compliance with the system based on our review.
We conducted our review in accordance with the policies and procedures
for external peer reviews established by the National State Auditors
Association (NSAA).
In performing our review, we obtained an understanding of the office’s
system of quality control for engagements conducted in accordance with
government auditing standards. In
addition, we tested compliance with the office’s quality control policies and
procedures to the extent we considered appropriate. These tests covered the application of the
office’s policies and procedures on selected engagements. The engagements selected represented a
reasonable cross-section of the office’s engagements conducted in accordance
with government auditing standards. We
believe that the procedures we performed provide a reasonable basis for our
opinion.
Our review was based on selective tests; therefore it would not
necessarily disclose all weaknesses in the system of quality control or all
instances of lack of compliance with it.
Also, there are inherent limitations in the effectiveness of any system
of quality control; therefore noncompliance with the system of quality control
may occur and not be detected.
Projection of any evaluation of a system of quality control to future
periods is subject to the risk that the system of quality control may become
inadequate because of changes in conditions, or because the degree of
compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
In our opinion, the system of quality control of the Illinois Office of
the Auditor General in effect for fiscal year financial statement audits,
single audits, and attestation engagements for the years ended April 30, 2007,
June 30, 2007, September 30, 2007, and December 31, 2007 which were released on
or before June 30, 2008, and for performance audits released between July 1,
2007 and June 30, 2008 has been suitably designed and was complied with during
the period to provide reasonable assurance of conforming with government
auditing standards.
_____________________________ _____________________________
Karen K. Helderman, Team Leader Don Dunlap, Concurring Reviewer
External Peer Review Team External Peer Review Team