Overall Conclusion
The Department of Revenue's internal controls provided reasonable assurance that payroll expenditures were properly authorized, adequately supported, and accurately recorded in the state's accounting and payroll systems. For the items tested, the department complied with material finance-related legal provisions relating to payroll, professional/technical services, rent, supplies, and equipment.
Agency Background
The Department of Revenue is responsible for managing the state's tax systems. The department's operations are funded through appropriations from the General Fund. Governor Ventura appointed Matthew Smith as commissioner on January 20, 1999.
During fiscal year 2001, the Department of Revenue collected approximately $11.3 billion from various tax programs, such as individual income, sales, corporate franchise, petroleum, environmental, gambling, cigarette and tobacco, alcohol, and insurance. The department's operations are primarily funded through General Fund appropriations. We focused this audit on selected administrative expenditures of the department, including payroll, rent, professional/ technical services, supplies, equipment, and travel. Total expenditures for department operations during fiscal year 2001 were approximately $102 million.
Financial-Related Audit Reports address internal control weaknesses and noncompliance issues found during our audits of state departments and agencies. The scope of our audit of selected department programs in this report was supplemental to the audit work performed as part of the annual Statewide Audit, the purpose of which is to render an opinion on the State of Minnesota's financial statements for fiscal year 2001. On December 7, 2001, we issued an unqualified opinion on the State of Minnesota's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the year ended June 30, 2001. We did not identify any financial statement findings or concerns as a result of our statewide audit work at the Department of Revenue.
