A Report on the Audit of the Office of the Fire Fighters' Pension Commissioner's Fiscal Year 2011 Financial Statements
January 2012
Report Number 12-013
Overall Conclusion
In our audit report dated December 20, 2011, we concluded that the Office of the Fire Fighters' Pension Commissioner's (Office) basic financial statements for fiscal year 2011 were materially correct and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The Office published our audit report as part of its basic financial statements, which it intends to post on its Web site at https://www.ffpc.state.tx.us/tesrs/tesrs.html.
We also issued a report on internal control over financial reporting and on compliance and other matters as required by auditing standards (that report, including responses from Office management, is presented in the attachment to this letter). In that report, auditors identified the following deficiencies in the Office's internal control structure over its pension application:
- The Office lacks documented policies and procedures to help ensure that (1) users have the appropriate level of access to the pension application and (2) periodic reviews of access rights for Office staff are performed and documented. Auditors identified programmers who had inappropriate access to the application and one programmer who made improper deletions to application data for legitimate payments.
- The Office does not have an adequate, documented change management process in place.
- The pension application does not have an audit trail to help the Office identify any changes made to data or programming code.
- The Office should strengthen its password controls to increase protection of confidential data in the pension application.
Our procedures were not intended to provide an opinion on internal control over financial reporting or to provide an opinion on compliance with laws and regulations. Accordingly, we do not express an opinion on the effectiveness of the Office's internal control over financial reporting or on compliance with laws and regulations.
Auditors communicated certain issues that were not material or significant to the audit objectives in writing to the Office's management.
As required by auditing standards, we will also communicate to the Texas Emergency Services Retirement System Board of Trustees certain matters related to the conduct of a financial statement audit.