Summary of Report 96-034

Report Number 96-034

During the management control audits of 17 small agencies, we consistently identified control weaknesses in the management of information and financial and human resources. In general, 12 of the small agencies audited had established control systems over their statutory functions. However, we reported significant control risks at five agencies which could prevent them from meeting legislative mandates and/or delivering intended benefits. In addition, we found that 38 percent of the performance measures examined were found to be reliable, and 45 percent were inaccurate. We were unable to determine the accuracy of the remaining 17 percent.

Five agencies audited had material or significant control weaknesses which could prevent them from meeting their statutory functions.

• Texas Funeral Service Commission (overall control environment weaknesses)
  
  
• Texas Board of Polygraph Examiners (overall control environment weaknesses)
  
  
• Board of Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies (weaknesses in licensing and investigative functions, involving criminal background checks and investigative case backlogs)
  
  
• Board of Tax Professional Examiners (weaknesses in the licensing function, involving the automated information system used for registrant tracking)
  
  
• Executive Council of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy Examiners (weaknesses in licensing and investigative functions, involving inefficient administrative processes)

During the 17 small agency audits, we consistently reported management control weaknesses in the following areas:

• Protecting internal and external automated informational data bases from unauthorized access or disasters (5 agencies)
• Performing reconciliations on financial data (11 agencies)
• Implementing recent changes in human resource laws (15 agencies)
• Gathering and accurately computing performance measure data (10 agencies)

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