Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

Report Summary

State Agricultural Society

For the Year Ended October 31, 2002

Key Findings and Recommendations

• The State Agricultural Society has not appropriately resolved the information technology security risks we identified in our prior audit report. We found significant security weaknesses during our review of information technology controls at the Society. We recommended that the Society build a comprehensive security infrastructure that addresses current information technology risks.
• The Society did not completely reconcile its general ledger cash account to bank cash balances. We recommended that the Society improve its cash reconciliation procedures to completely reconcile cash balances in bank accounts to cash recorded in the general ledger each month. In addition, it should consider maintaining separate cash accounts in the general ledger for each bank account or consolidating its bank accounts.
• The Society did not establish internal controls to ensure the accuracy of the daily average ticket price of carnival tickets sold at the State Fair. We recommended that the Society establish these internal controls.
• The Society made $300 contributions to the deferred compensation accounts of two employees who were not entitled to the benefit. We recommended that the Society recover the contributions made to the two employees' deferred compensation accounts.

The State Agricultural Society operates Minnesota's annual state fair and maintains the state fairgrounds. The Society earned about $27.9 million in operating revenues during fiscal year 2002 and had total assets of over $33 million on October 31, 2002.

The primary objective of our audit was to issue an opinion on the financial statements of the State Agricultural Society for the year ended October 31, 2002. The Society's Annual Report for fiscal year 2002 includes our opinion thereon dated March 14, 2003. This report addresses internal control weaknesses we found during our audit.