December 18, 2007
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
We have completed a financial audit of the State of Wisconsin Educational Communications Board (ECB) Television Network to meet our audit requirements under s.
13.94, Wis. Stats., and as requested by ECB to fulfill the audit requirements of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Corporation requires audited financial statements of public broadcasting entities to determine future funding levels.
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ECB, which is an agency of the State of Wisconsin, operates a television network of 5 digital stations and 5 analog stations, as well as a radio network of 13 FM stations and 1 AM station. The Television Network reported $11.2 million in support and revenue during fiscal year (FY) 2006‐07, including state support, member contributions, funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and various other grants.
Our audit report contains the ECB Television Network's financial statements and related notes as of and for the periods ending June 30, 2007, and June 30, 2006. We were able to issue an unqualified independent auditor's report on these statements.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by ECB staff during the audit.
Respectfully submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
December 18, 2007
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
We have completed a financial audit of the State of Wisconsin Educational Communications Board (ECB) Radio Network to meet our audit requirements under s.
13.94, Wis. Stats., and as requested by ECB to fulfill the audit requirements of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Corporation requires audited financial statements of public broadcasting entities to determine future funding levels.
ECB, which is an agency of the State of Wisconsin, operates a radio network of 13 FM stations and 1 AM station, as well as a television network of 5 digital stations and 5 analog stations. The Radio Network reported $8.9 million in support and revenue during fiscal year (FY) 2006‐07, including state support, member contributions, funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and various other grants.
Our audit report contains the ECB Radio Network's financial statements and related notes as of and for the periods ending June 30, 2007, and June 30, 2006. We were able to issue an unqualified independent auditor's report on these statements.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by ECB staff during the audit.
Respectfully submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
December 18, 2007
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
We have completed a financial audit of the Wisconsin Public Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.'s Television Fund and Radio Fund, as requested by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board. The Foundation was organized by the Educational Communications Board under s.
39.12 and ch.
181, Wis. Stats., on September 29, 1983, for the exclusive purpose of raising funds for the Wisconsin educational radio and television networks.
We completed this audit in conjunction with our audits of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board television and radio networks, reports 07‐17 and 07‐18. The Foundation's financial operations are separate and independent from the State of Wisconsin. The Foundation's financial statements are presented in two separate funds (radio and television) to accommodate reporting requirements and the Educational Communications Board's desire to maintain the funds separately.
Our audit report contains the Foundation's financial statements and related notes as of and for the periods ending June 30, 2007, and June 30, 2006. We were able to issue an unqualified independent auditor's report on these statements.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by Educational Communications Board staff during the audit.
Respectfully submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
December 20, 2007
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
We completed an annual financial audit of the Department of Employee Trust Funds in April 2007, as requested by the Department and to fulfill our audit requirements under s.
13.94(1)(dd), Wis. Stats. The audit covered the period of January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2005. The 2005 financial statements and our unqualified opinion on them are included in the Department's recently issued financial report, which provides information on the financial position and activity of various benefit programs available to public employees. The late issuance of the Department's financial report was a result of delays in its completion by the Department.
The largest program administered by the Department is the Wisconsin Retirement System, which reported net assets of $71.5 billion at the end of 2005 and provided benefits totaling $3.1 billion during 2005. Positive investment returns contributed to the net increase in retirement assets of $3.6 billion. At the end of 2005, the Wisconsin Retirement System was 99.5 percent funded based on actuarial measures that compare the actuary's valuation of assets to the estimated value of the benefit obligations for services already rendered by present and future retirees.
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Accompanying this letter is a management letter we provided to the Department. As required by Government Auditing Standards, we include an auditor's report on internal control and compliance with the management letter. We identified three reportable conditions required to be reported under these standards:
• the existence of outstanding balances in clearing accounts that the Department needs to review and eliminate;
• a continuing concern with the lack of cash reconciliations on a program level; and
• the lack of a written signed agreement with and review of invoices from the third‐party administrator for the Badger Rx Gold Program.
As noted in the management letter responses, the Department is making progress in addressing our concern with the outstanding balances in the clearing accounts. Further, the Department agrees with the value of completing cash reconciliations on a program level, but it has made limited progress to date because of other financial reporting priorities. Finally, the Department plans to obtain a signed agreement with the third‐party administrator for the Badger Rx Gold Program. It does not agree with the recommendation for regular reviews of invoices for the program, but instead plans to rely on periodic compliance audits of it. We will continue to monitor and report on these areas in future audits.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by Department staff during our audit.
Respectfully submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
