Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

Report Summary
Minnesota Department of Transportation
Internal Controls and Compliance Audit

 

Financial Audit Division Report 13-19

Released August 9, 2013

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Conclusion

The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s internal controls over the financial activities included in the scope of our audit were generally adequate to ensure compliance with finance-related legal provisions. However, the department had some weaknesses in its internal controls to ensure appropriate funding of certain expenditures.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation generally complied with significant finance-related legal requirements. However, there were some specific instances of noncompliance related to the eligibility of expenditures charged to the state road construction portion of a Trunk Highway Fund appropriation.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation implemented two recommendations included in our prior audit report that were relevant to this audit by improving internal controls over its receipt process and by protecting not public data.¹

Finding

• The Minnesota Department of Transportation incorrectly charged about $2.1 million in expenses to an appropriation for state road construction.

Audit Objectives and Scope

Objectives	Period Audited
Internal Controls Legal Compliance	July 1, 2011, through January 31, 2013
Programs Audited
Trunk Highway Fund expenditures (payroll, highway construction expenditures for “design bid build” construction projects, and architect and engineer services contracts)2	System security Intergovernmental grant receipt revenue

 

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¹ Office of the Legislative Auditor, Financial Audit Division Report 10-30, Minnesota Department of Transportation, issued September 16, 2010. This audit report cited five findings; however, only two findings were relevant to this audit. Our scope did not include employee expenses, cell phone expenses, or fixed assets.
² Our scope included the Trunk Highway Fund Expenditure Table in the Annual Report on Major Highway Projects submitted to the Legislature in accordance with Minnesota Statutes 2012, 174.56.