A Financial Review of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct
September 2002
Report Number 03-002
Overall Conclusion
The Commission on Judicial Conduct's (Commission) reported financial information has been reasonably accurate. To ensure continued accuracy, the Commission should reconcile its financial records to the Uniform Statewide Accounting System (USAS) and perform timely physical inventories of its fixed assets.
Most of the Commission's expenditures have been reasonable and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. However, some transactions were not in compliance or were insufficiently documented. For example, the Commission made a partial payment in advance to a former employee on a $15,000 contract that was not competitively bid. To ensure compliance, the Commission should provide additional training to its purchasing staff.
The Commission has not met its performance target, which is to dispose of 100 percent of complaints received, for three of the past four years. From 2001 to 2002, the number of pending cases increased from 594 to a projected 839 and the average time to dispose of a case increased from 4.6 months to a projected 6.9 months. Employee turnover appears to have impaired the Commission's ability to meet its performance targets. During the last four years, the Commission has lost all of its long-term employees and has had difficulty retaining many of its new employees.
The Commission's local area network (LAN) and Case Management System (CMS) lacked sufficient password protections. The CMS also lacked data integrity controls and audit trails.
The Commission has complied with the two nonstatutory recommendations made
in the Sunset Advisory Commission's report to the 77th Legislature.
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