On June 11, the Illinois Auditor General issued its audit of the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The auditors found that:
The Department was not able to locate computer equipment and did not adequately plan, coordinate, and verify the transfer of EDP equipment to the Department of Central Management Services (CMS).
The Department conducts an annual physical inventory of all equipment with an acquisition cost of $500 or more and annually reports its results to CMS. In its fiscal year 2008 Physical Inventory Report submitted to CMS, the Department reported it was unable to locate 98 of 3,771 (3%) items totaling $169,813.
Upon further inquiry with Department and CMS personnel, we noted the following:
- The missing EDP equipment consisted of approximately 35 laptop computers, 17 desktop computers, and other peripheral items. The Department “assumed” the missing items were transferred to and removed by CMS.
- Upon follow-up with CMS, CMS personnel stated none of these missing items were on its post-consolidation property control records.
- The Department was unable to produce property transfer records or locate the EDP equipment. The Department had not performed an assessment, and was unsure how much, if any, confidential information was on the missing computers.
- · CMS provided a list of items that they removed as part of the information technology (IT) consolidation. We noted 68 items, totaling $223,509, which were on CMS’ listing and also still on Department inventory records. As a result, these items are duplicated on two Agencies’ records, thus overstating State assets by $223,509. (Finding 1, pages 15-16)
We recommended the Department immediately perform a detailed inventory of computer equipment; contact CMS in an effort to reconcile any missing items that may have been transferred to CMS, but lacked appropriate paperwork; and perform a detailed assessment to determine if any of the missing computers contained confidential information.