Date: 01/21/2015

Final
Office of the State Auditor presentation on unimplemented audit

COMMITTEE ON JOINT EDUCATION

Votes: View--> Action Taken:
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09:38 AM -- Office of the State Auditor presentation on unimplemented audit

Representative Buckner, Chair, called the committee to order and welcomed the audience. Monica Bowers, representing the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) discussed the report that she distributed to the committee (Attachment A). She discussed audit recommendations that OSA made to departments and the status of the agencies' efforts to implement those recommendations. She clarified that recommendations not implemented as of June 2014 are included in report. She discussed the function and purpose of OSA and explained that the office serves as the state's independent external auditor. She discussed the audit reports OSA issued in FY 2013-14 and explained that audit reports typically discuss the efficiency and effectiveness of state agencies, as well as compliance with state and federal laws. She explained that the report covers audit recommendations issued from July 2008 through June 2013 and that it contains 3,300 recommendations with which agencies agreed.

JtEd0121AttachA.pdfJtEd0121AttachA.pdf

Cynthia Hookmiller, representing OSA, discussed financial audit recommendations listed on page 4 of the report. She talked about the nature of financial audits and explained that financial audits include audits of state agencies' compliance with federal grant requirements. Ms. Hookmiller responded to questions from the committee.


09:46 AM

Ms. Hookmiller continued her presentation by discussing the table on page 7 listing the number of audit recommendations not implemented by each state department. She discussed recommendations to the state's higher education institutions. She told the committee about performance audits, which evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of state agencies, and information technology (IT) audits, which evaluate the integrity of the state's computer systems and taxpayer data. Ms. Hookmiller explained the various priority levels given to audit recommendations and discussed the percentage of recommendations that remain unimplemented. Ms. Hookmiller responded to questions from the committee regarding the process of issuing recommendations to the departments. The committee discussed the process and what to do about unimplemented audit recommendations within the role of the legislative branch.


09:57 AM

Ms. Hookmiller continued her presentation, discussing the education tab of the report. She discussed current outstanding recommendations for the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), which were not given a high priority ranking by OSA. She discussed the Higher Education tab of the report, explaining that one school has a material weakness. Colorado State University - Pueblo has an outstanding recommendation relating to timely account reconciliations and review of those reconciliations. This recommendation has been outstanding for one year. Ms. Hookmiller responded to questions from the committee.