Will Co. (ECWd) –
A forensic audit recently performed for DuPage Township in Will County has many scratching their heads.
One of the main purposes of a forensic audit is to determine if transactions are compliant with the law, and to identify fraud and/or abuse of taxpayer money. Reading the thirteen-page audit we find many questions never answered by the auditors, even though they were presented as key questions in the audit purpose.
The very first item points to questions of unauthorized transactions with staff entering into arrangements without board knowledge or consent. The findings never make any determination to that question. The same first item talks of transfers from other accounts, however, the auditors fail to point out the law on Township transfers of funds, which is very limited and in some cases are only allowed by the electors at the annual town meeting. Lastly, in the first item, they speak of “issues” with reconciling the disbursement account yet nowhere do they disclose what those issues were.
We highlighted what we would call glaring failures to provide sufficient information to answer questions raised as well as matters exposed that point to what we would consider spending outside statutory authority.
One of the most surprising matters dealt with stolen cash.
- While this is outside the 3-year span, there apparently was a burglary in July 2013 where a significant amount of cash was stolen but not reported to the police in their report. How was this loss of cash accounted for?”
The auditors never answered the question as to how this stolen cash was accounted for. Instead, they cite from a police report that outlines there was no report to the police of cash stolen.
How is it that a public body has stolen cash and does not report it to the police?
The report identifies public funds that were collected but those who had contact with that money have no idea where it went as they were “unsure” what they did with the envelope and “unsure” if the money was deposited.
Unsure if it was deposited?
Bank records should reflect all deposits yet the so-called “forensic” audit report makes no mention of any effort taken to identify if these funds were deposited. If they were not, may we suggest a police report for missing money?
Reading the report is enough to boil your blood. The auditors did confirm spending from the General Assistance was being done in violation of the Public Aid Act. Such improper spending is a crime, yet we see no reference to any investigative agency being notified or any official complaint filed with Illinois Department of Human Services.
We suggest the items outlined in this so-called forensic audit report to be yet another example of how out of control some Illinois Townships are, and how insufficient government audits are.
You can download the audit report at this link or view below.
DuPage-Township-Forensic-Audit-Report-2018 (1).
