Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

Office of the Secretary of State
Internal Controls and Compliance Audit

 

Financial Audit Division Report 17-13

Released November 15, 2017

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The Office of the Secretary of State is a constitutional office in the executive branch of state government. Article V of the Minnesota Constitution established the Secretary of State as one of the five executive officers of the state, elected to serve four-year terms. Minnesota voters first elected Steve Simon as Secretary of State in November 2014. The Secretary of State’s duties include administering elections; preserving documents filed with the state; providing certain business services to the public; maintaining the recording of financing statements under the Uniform Commercial Code; and administering a statewide address confidentiality program known as Safe at Home.

We examined the office’s internal controls over its operations and its compliance with relevant legal requirements during the period from July 2014 through February 2017.

Conclusion

The Office of the Secretary of State had generally adequate internal controls over its financial operations and the Safe at Home Program, and it generally complied with the significant legal requirements we tested. However, the office had some internal control weaknesses and instances of noncompliance related to assets, professional/technical services contracts, and Safe at Home Program data. The office resolved one of the findings from the prior audit report, but did not resolve the other.¹ We repeat that finding related to physical inventories of assets.

Findings

• The Office of the Secretary of State did not properly report a lost asset and did not perform timely physical inventory of its fixed assets in compliance with state policies.
• The Office of the Secretary of State did not submit required evaluation reports for professional/technical services contracts to the Department of Administration.
• The Office of the Secretary of State inadvertently disclosed private data on two Safe at Home Program participants.
• The Office of the Secretary of State did not require state employees and other individuals to certify in writing their agreement to protect not public data related to the Safe at Home Program.

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¹Office of the Legislative Auditor, Financial Audit Division, Report 13-29, Office of the Secretary of State, issued November 15, 2013.