Back to SAO Home Texas State Auditor's Office
SAO Reports:
An Audit Report on Internal Control and Financial Processes at the Commission on the Arts and the Funeral Service Commission

General Government/Regulatory


An Audit Report on Internal Control and Financial Processes at the Commission on the Arts and the Funeral Service Commission


June 2002

Report Number 02-056

Overall Conclusion

The Commission on the Arts (COA) and the Funeral Service Commission (FSC) need to address significant weaknesses in their respective core functions. At COA inadequate grant monitoring increases the risk that grantees will not spend grant funds as intended. The State Auditor's Office reported on weaknesses in COA's grant monitoring process in 1991 and 1996. Weaknesses in monitoring continue to exist. In addition, unnecessary delays in the grant award process and a lack of procedures for determining grant amounts impair COA's ability to award grants promptly and properly. COA awarded grants totaling $4.7 million in fiscal year 2002. At FSC, weaknesses in information system controls and flaws in the license issuance process hinder the agency's ability to record and monitor key data regarding licensees. FSC risks converting flawed data to the new information system it is acquiring at an estimated cost of $228,000. The Department of Information Resources is currently working with FSC to establish controls for the new system.

Key Facts and Findings

COA lacks key controls to ensure that grantees spend funds as intended and that grants are awarded promptly and properly. For example:

FSC's information-system control weaknesses and flawed license issuance process impede the recording and monitoring of key information regarding licensees:

Contact the SAO about this report.

Download the PDF version of this report. (02-056.pdf)

HTML Equivalent (utilizing Adobe's PDF Conversion by Simple Form).