Audit: ethics office posted $50,000 in receipts late

Staffing issues within the fiscal unit at the Office of State Ethics led to over $50,000 in receipts being posted later than the 24-hour period required by state law, according to a recent audit .

The audit, conducted by the state Auditors of Public Accounts, reviewed various operations within the Office of State Ethics (OSE) for fiscal years 2022 and 2023 and revealed two findings.

The audit found OSE posted 40 receipts totaling $51,346 between two and 28 days late. In total, OSE received 646 deposits during the audit period.

State statute requires state agencies to report the receipt of funds within 24 hours. If the funds exceed $500, state agencies must deposit the money in treasury accounts. Funds under this amount can be held until an agency receives receipts totaling $500, but not for a period of more than 7 calendar days.

State statute also allows the state treasurer to make exceptions to the requirement following a written request from the head of state agency and to notify the comptroller and state auditors.

The treasurer did grant OSE a 7-day waiver to deposit penalty fees between May 26, 2022, and June 30, 2023.

In total, OSE received $141,108 in receipts for fiscal year 2022 and $998,143 for fiscal year 2023.

State auditors attributed the late posting of receipts to a lack of management oversight and noted that failure to promptly post receives “increases the risk of errors.” The finding is a repeat from an audit covering fiscal years 2020 and 2021.

OSE agreed with the audit’s findings and attributed the findings to staffing vacancies.

“Pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding, the OSE shares fiscal staff with the State Elections Enforcement Commission and Freedom of Information Commission to provide fiscal services to the three watchdog agencies to maintain necessary segregation of duties for compliance purposes. During the audited period of fiscal years 2022 and 2023, vacancies occurred in fiscal staff ranks, prompting delays in posting of deposits.” OSE told auditors.

The office also noted that the delays did not occur when the fiscal unit was fully staffed. As of the end of June, OSE stated it has four full-time employees in its fiscal unit to ensure compliance.

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