Texas State Auditor's Office - Summary of Report 04-018

An Audit Report on fund-raising Activities at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

January 2004

Report Number 04-018

Overall Conclusion

The Parks and Wildlife Department (Department) does not have accurate information about who has engaged in fund-raising activities or about the value of donations each person has received or solicited. As a result, we are unable to provide assurance that the list disclosing who has engaged in fund-raising activities for the Department and the value of gifts each person has received or solicited is complete and reliable. (Parks and Wildlife Code, Section 11.0182, requires us to report this information.) In addition, the Department has not performed a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the Texas Wildlife Expo (Expo). Based on a profit and loss statement we compiled for the 2002 Expo, the result is a loss of $760,646.

The Department does not have documented policies and procedures for contracting with nonprofit organizations such as the Parks and Wildlife Foundation. The Parks and Wildlife Code, Section 11.0171, requires the Department to develop such policies and procedures. While our testing of a sample of expenditures from the Department to nonprofits did not identify inappropriate expenditures, without documented policies and procedures the Department cannot ensure that these contracts are in the State's best interests. In fiscal years 2002 and 2003 (through May), the Department's expenditures to nonprofits totaled $2.8 million.