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3 golden objects Minnesota Legislature

Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

Report Summary


Report on Compliance and Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Public Employees Retirement Association

Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2001


Audit Conclusions

  • We issued an unqualified opinion on the financial statements of the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) as of and for the year ended June 30, 2001.
  • We issued a Report on Compliance and Internal Control Over Financial Reporting Based on an Audit of Financial Statements Performed in Accordance with Government Auditing Standards. We did not report any material weaknesses involving the internal control over financial reporting and its operation or noncompliance that would be required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards.
  • We reviewed the administrative expenditures of the Public Employees Retirement Association for fiscal years 1998 through 2001. We found that for items tested, PERA paid employees and processed other administrative expenditures in compliance with significant finance-related legal provisions and accurately recorded those expenditures in the accounting records.
  • In response to a request from the Executive Director of the Public Employees Retirement Association, we audited an internal review PERA conducted that identified past benefit overpayments and underpayments. We also conducted a risk assessment of PERA's new benefit payment system. We concurred with the results of the internal review and did not identify any errors or material weaknesses related to the review or the system.
Background Information

The Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) administers four separate funds: the Public Employees Retirement Fund (PERF), the Public Employees Police and Fire Fund (PEPFF), the Public Employees Correctional Fund (PECF), and the Public Employees Defined Contribution Plan (PEDCP). The PERF covers employees of counties, cities and townships, and employees of schools in non-certified positions. The PEPFF covers police officers and fire fighters. The PECF covers employees in county correctional institutions who have direct contact with inmates. The PEDCP covers elected local government officials except elected county sheriffs, emergency medical service personnel employed by or providing service to any of the participating ambulance services, and physicians employed at public facilities.

PERA served approximately 2,000 units of government and had 317,776 members in its four funds as of June 30, 2001. At June 30, 2001, PERA administered about $14.2 billion in net assets. For the year ended June 30, 2001, PERA received contributions of about $461.1 million and paid benefits and refunds of about $807.8 million.

Our work at the Public Employees Retirement Association focused on auditing their financial statements. We reviewed the agency's internal controls and compliance with legal provisions in relation to that objective.

Office of the Legislative Auditor, Room 140, 658 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55155 : legislative.auditor@state.mn.us or 651‑296‑4708