Audits in Progress

These summaries of the audits currently approved or under way link to the audit "scope statement" approved by the Legislative Post Audit Committee or (for audits conducted by the school audit team) by the 2010 Commission. The scope statement outlines the questions the audit will try to answer and the methods we would use to answer those questions. (Files in PDF format are 15 KB or smaller).

Fiscal Notes:

Determining Whether the Process for Preparing Fiscal Estimates In Kansas Could Be Improved

The Division of the Budget estimates that 750-800 fiscal notes are prepared during a legislative session. About two-thirds of those have a specific dollar impact tied to them. Legislators have expressed concerns about the accuracy of fiscal notes in Kansas, and whether State agencies are held accountable for the reliability of the estimates they provide to the Budget Director. In addition, they want to know if there is more Kansas could do to provide better estimates of the potential benefits for economic development fiscal notes.
Scope statement

Children in Need of Care:
Reviewing Selected Issues Related to handling Their Cases

There is concern about the handling of Children-in-Need-of-Care cases. Legislators want to know whether social workers and case managers are qualified, and whether they are trained to work with the courts and district attorneys' offices. They also want to know whether sufficient numbers of social workers and case managers are employed to handle the workload. Finally, they would like to know whether social workers in Kansas have been unduly influenced by prosecutors, and if so, the extent of the problem, and if so, what needs to be done to address it.
Scope statement

K-12 Education:
School District Efficiency Audits

The 2005 Legislature passed House Bill 2247 which increased State funding for school districts by more than $145 million for the 2005-06 school year. To ensure greater accountability, the legislature established a school district team within the Legislative Division of Post Audit to conduct audits and monitor school district funding and other oversight issues. Potential topics relate to how efficiently and effectively school districts use their State funding. This audit would look at the efficiency and effectiveness of many aspects of school districts' operations such as management of its personnel and facilities. Also whether districts follow best practices for financial management; and does the district spend its State at-risk and bilingual funding on effective programs.
Scope statement

State Universities:
Can State Universities Provide Post-Secondary Education More Efficiently to Reduce Costs

The Board of Regents oversees the State higher education system, which includes six State universities serving about 90,000 students. In the past ten years, spending at the six universities (excluding the University of Kansas Medical Center) has grown from about $910 million to nearly $1.7 billion. That increase in spending is about 26% higher than the inflation rate for higher education. During that same time the number of staff at the institutions has grown by 16% from 11,383 to 13,245. Legislators want to know if there are opportunities for State universities in Kansas to reduce the cost of providing post-secondary education.
Scope statement

K-12 Education:
Reviewing Issues at the Kansas State High School Activities Association

Recently, legislators have expressed concerns that the Kansas State High School Association's governance structure, with both a Board of Directors and an Executive Board, is cumbersome and makes the Association less responsive to the needs of its member schools. Also, there are concerns that the Association's policies for sharing the revenue generated by its sanctioned events cause schools to lose money when they host such events. Last of all, there are concerns that the Association's limits on the lengths of seasons and its restrictions on student-athletes' contact with their coaches hinder the athletic development of Kansas student-athletes.
Scope statement

Vehicle Travel:
Determining Whether the State Is Becoming More Efficient In its Consumption of Motor Fuel

Recently, legislators have expressed interest in knowing whether the State has taken steps to reduce vehicle travel costs. In particular, they want to know whether the State has been able to reduce miles driven and gasoline costs, and whether the State is acquiring more fuel-efficient vehicles when it replaces vehicles that have reached the end of their useful lives. Also, they want to know the extent to which the State would save money by buying used fleet vehicles rather than new cars.
Scope statement

Agency Data Centers:
Assessing the Potential Savings of Consolidation

According to the most recent set of agency IT plans compiled by the Kansas Informatiion Technology Office, executive branch agencies (excluding the Regents institutions) spent more than $111 million on IT services in fiscal year 2007. One of the major IT cost areas is the operation and maintenance of data servers. According to the IT plans, agencies currently operate four large mainframe systems and more than 2,100 smaller servers. Legislators are interested in knowing whether there is potential for significant cost savings in Kansas from consolidating data centers, and what potential up-front costs would be need to be incurred.
Scope statement

State Agency Staffing:
Reviewing Management Positions Across Selected State Agencies

Legislators have expressed concerns that, in some cases, State salary dollars may be going to create and maintain management positions when the money might be better spent on frontline workers who deliver services to the public. Accordingly, they want to know how agencies compare in the percent of their total positions that are management, and whether money could be saved by reducing the amount of management staff in agencies that seem management heavy.
Scope statement

State Inspection Functions:
Determining Whether There Are Ways To Combine, or Otherwise Restructure Some Functions To Reduce Costs

A number of State agencies regulate certain professions or business enterprises in Kansas. As part of those regulatory activities, many of those agencies have staff whose job is to inspect businesses around the State. In 2003, Legislative Post Audit looked at the possibility of combining food safety inspection programs in Kansas and estimated that about $90,000 could be saved by combining certain inspections. Recently, legislators have raised questions about whether there are ways to combine some inspection functions or better coordinate them to eliminate duplicate or unnecessary inspections to achieve cost savings.
Scope statement

Data Mining:
Reviewing State Data Systems for Inappropriate Payments

This audit would apply some of the same techniques used to identify improper payments to ineligible clients in the Medicaid Program to some other entitlement programs. Auditors will look to see if the State's current practices adequately address the identified risk for abuse and non-compliance; and are there instances of abuse and non-compliance actually occurring.
Scope statement

State Agency Information Systems:
Reviewing Selected Security Controls in State Agencies

State agencies continue to become more dependent on their computer systems and on the data those systems contain to make decisions and fulfill their missions. Presently there is little oversight of State agencies' computer operations to monitor whether technology risks are being addressed. This audit would look at how well State agencies control network passwords and keep operating systems up-to-date.
Scope statement