Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

Report Summary
Department of Education
Internal Controls and Compliance Audit

 

Financial Audit Division Report 12-17

Released August 23, 2012

---

Conclusion

Except for the grants from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, the Department of Education’s internal controls were generally adequate to ensure that it safeguarded its financial resources, accurately paid employees and vendors in accordance with management’s authorizations, and complied with finance-related legal provisions. The department’s internal controls were not adequate to ensure that the regional public library systems used money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund in accordance with the purposes of the appropriations.

For the items tested, the department and the libraries we examined generally complied with finance-related legal requirements; however, the department had some weaknesses in its compliance with the state’s grant policies. In addition, the department did not resolve one of three prior audit findings related to the scope of this audit, and the department did not adequately review two key payroll reports.

Audit Findings

• The Department of Education did not comply with some of the state’s grant management policies and did not adequately oversee the regional library systems’ use of money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
• The Department of Education did not establish requirements for the regional public library systems to ensure they used money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund in accordance with the specific appropriations.
• Prior Finding Not Resolved: The Department of Education did not adequately review key payroll reports and did not appropriately assign primary and secondary approvers in the self service time entry system.

Audit Objectives and Scope

Objectives	Period Audited
Internal Controls Finance-related legal compliance	July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2011
Programs Audited
Payroll expenditures Professional/technical contract expenditures Other selected administrative expenditures	Travel expenditures Arts and cultural heritage (Legacy) grants