Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

Report Summary
Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission

Financial Audit

For the Year Ended December 31, 1994

Audit Scope

The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission is a component unit of the Metropolitan Council. As required by Minn. Stat. Section 473.595, Subd. 5, we have conducted an audit of the commission's financial statements for the year ended December 31, 1994. Based on our examination, we have concluded that the commission's financial statements are fairly stated in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Financial Statement Highlights

The financial statements show total commission assets of over $95 million as of December 31, 1994. The commission expensed $5 million when it disposed of the Met Center building in 1994, as explained in footnote 4 to the financial statements. Nearly $65 million of property and equipment comprises the largest portion of commission assets; cash and investments accounted for most of its other assets. The commission owed total liabilities of about $41.5 million at December 31, 1994, with about $40 million representing principal and accrued interest on its long-term debt. The financial statements show that the commission has equity of $53.6 million: $17 million in contributed capital, $16.9 million reserved according to its bond covenants, and $19.7 million of unreserved retained earnings.

Conclusions

We issued an unqualified opinion of the commission's financial statements.

We found one area where the internal control structure needed improvement:

• The commission did not properly follow certain portions of its internal procurement policy.

We found one issue that affected compliance with finance-related legal provisions:

• As explained further in footnote 5 of the financial statements, during 1994, the commission earned that two of its investments potentially did not meet the standards for legally permitted investments. The commission has since liquidated the two investments, with a negligible effect on net income.