Central Education
A Review of Management Controls at the Texas Education Agency
December 23, 1996
Report Number 97-024
Overall Conclusion
The Texas Education Agency (Agency) has not fully attended to management controls over its operations. Some of the issues raised in this report have been identified as far back as 1990. Weaknesses in the Agency's overall management systems have created significant risks and challenges for the Agency.
Key Facts and Findings
Instances of noncompliance with state and Agency policies and procedures highlight breakdowns in the Agency's overall control environment. Some instances raise concerns of an ethical nature. The Agency has documented operating procedures and a process for establishing and updating those procedures. However, a pattern of noncompliance suggests that control procedures are not properly understood or performed by staff, thereby increasing the risk of undetected errors or irregularities.
Control weaknesses were identified in the areas of human resource management, grants, contracts, revenues, expenditures, property inventory, and financial reporting. Additionally, the internal audit function has been ineffective, which has compounded these control weaknesses. The control weaknesses, along with instances of noncompliance with Agency operating procedures, increase the risk of ineffective and inefficient operations.
The Agency does not adequately monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of its internal operations. Performance measures have been defined to evaluate the public education system, as a whole, which is appropriate. However, performance measures for the public education system do not provide specific guidance or feedback about the Agency's operations and administration.
The Agency has lacked a unified approach to internal information system management. Fragmented information systems increase the risk that management will make decisions based upon incomplete or inaccurate data. The Agency has recently instituted some commendable efforts at an Agencywide level to improve information flow and communication.
Contact the SAO about this report.
Download the PDF version of this report. (.pdf)
HTML Equivalent (utilizing Adobe's PDF Conversion by Simple Form).