Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

Report Summary
Office of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor
Internal Controls and Compliance Audit

 

Financial Audit Division Report 15-13

Released October 16, 2015

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This audit examined receipts and expenditures of the Office of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor during the period from July 2013 through March 2015. The audit focused on whether the office had adequate internal controls to ensure that it used money from its General Fund appropriation and from executive branch agencies in compliance with finance-related legal requirements.

The office received an annual appropriation of $3,353,000 in fiscal years 2014 and 2015 from the General Fund. In addition, eighteen state agencies and three other units of government provided money to the office to support its activities related to legislative and cabinet affairs, federal affairs, and constituent services.¹ Those revenues totaled $895,000 and $1,185,000 in fiscal years 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Conclusion

The Office of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor’s internal controls were generally adequate to ensure that the office safeguarded its financial resources, appropriately paid employees and vendors, and complied with finance-related requirements. For the items we tested, the office generally complied with significant finance-related legal requirements. The office also resolved the prior audit findings.² However, the office failed to obtain reimbursements for use of a state airplane for travel to two events that appeared to be political and over collected money from state agencies for services performed by the office.

Audit Findings

• The Office of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor did not obtain reimbursement for state airplane costs incurred for the Governor to travel to two events that appeared to be political.
• The Office of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor collected more money from interagency agreements with state agencies than it needed to support the services it performed for those agencies, and the office has allowed the year-end balances from these revenues to grow significantly.

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¹ Executive branch state agencies included the departments of Administration, Agriculture, Commerce, Corrections, Education, Employment and Economic Development, Health, Human Services, Labor and Industry, Management and Budget, Military Affairs, Natural Resources, Public Safety, Revenue, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, and Office of MN.IT Services and Pollution Control Agency. Other units of government included the Metropolitan Council, Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, and Office of Higher Education.

² Office of the Legislative Auditor, Financial Audit Division Report 14-01, Office of the Governor, issued January 16, 2014. The report covered the period from January 2011 through June 2013.