A report today from the state’s Legislative Auditor’s office found problems with MNsure’s internal controls.
The report didn’t attempt to assess the functionality of MNsure, the beleagured state health exchange, but did look at controls over expenditures and controls over collection of receipts, employee ability to update financial transactions in the state’s accounting systems, and compliance with various state and federal finance-related requirements.
The full report (pdf) is here.
The report found MNsSure “had generally adequate internal controls and generally complied with most legal requirements applicable to spending public money.”
But, the report said:
MNsure did not have adequate controls over marketing costs and the collection of receipts and did not comply with some of its board policies and Minnesota Statutes. In addition, MNsure and the departments of Commerce and Management and Budget had other internal control weaknesses and noncompliance with federal and state requirements as noted in the findings in this report.
The reports key findings:
- MNsure did not appropriately authorize $925,458 of additional marketing work or execute a contract amendment until after the contractor completed work.
- MNsure did not design and implement adequate internal controls over collection of receipts from applicants.
- MNsure did not monitor employee access to functions in the state’s accounting system that require separation of duties between employees.
- The Department of Commerce and MNsure did not maintain complete and accurate inventory records of equipment purchased for the Exchange.
Bob Hume of the governor’s office notes that the marketing costs cited in the report were less than 1 percent of overall expenditures, while the vast majority of the expenditures are included in the report’s determination of “generally adequate internal controls.”
