| Public Release Date: June 4, 1997 | No. 97-31 |
The State Board of Electricity exists to protect the public by ensuring that individuals involved in any aspect of electrical work meet and maintain the qualifications, standards, and professionalism necessary to competently complete such work. The board consists of 11 board members appointed by the Governor. The board appointed Mr. John Schultz to serve as its executive secretary.
The board finances its operations through revenues generated from licensing and inspection fees. The board sets its fees to recover all costs of operations. The board deposits its receipts into the state's Special Revenue Fund as dedicated revenue.
Our audit scope included license and inspection fees, payroll, and disbursements to contracted inspectors for the period July 1, 1994, through December 31, 1996.
The State Board of Electricity designed and implemented controls to provide reasonable assurance that the appropriate license and inspection fees were assessed and collected. However, the board did not have adequate controls to provide reasonable assurance that the license and inspection fees collected were adequately safeguarded or accurately reported in the accounting records. In addition, the board did not deposit license and inspection fee receipts in a timely manner, nor did the board void outdated request for electrical inspection forms.
The State Board of Electricity designed and implemented internal controls that provided reasonable assurance that expenditures for contract inspector services and payroll were properly authorized, supported, and accurately reported in the accounting records. In addition, the board appropriately contracted with the electrical inspectors to conduct inspections in accordance with applicable legal provisions. Also, employee timesheets were adequately documented and approved, including the use of employee leave balances. However, the board was not verifying that its expenditures for inspections were accurately recorded on the state's accounting system (MAPS). The board did not reconcile the payroll register report to timesheets and pay rates.
