The Office of the City Controller released the Report on Internal Control and On Compliance and Other Matters Fiscal Year 2018, finding that the City had two material weaknesses and seven significant deficiencies in its internal control over financial reporting. The fiscal year 2018 report identified findings similar to the fiscal year 2017 report. Over the course of the fiscal year, only one of the 10 prior year findings was resolved completely.
As part of the Departmental Audit, the Controller’s Office assessed departmental diversity for exempt employees in FY18, including all exempt employees, new hires in FY18, all exempt employees with salaries greater than $90,000, and new hires with salaries greater than $90,000. The demographic makeup of exempt employees can be an important indication of the City’s hiring practices, specifically its ability to attract diverse applicants and its likelihood of hiring diverse candidates.
The Office of the City Controller’s Departmental Audit examines the financial affairs of City departments as part of the audit of the City’s basic financial statements. It focuses on determining if management of each department has suitably designed and placed in operation internal controls to ensure accurate financial information and compliance with any laws and regulations related to revenue and expenditure activities.
Read this quick guide to learn about this audit’s key findings, including sick leave policy enforcement and overtime approval/authorization.
The City’s Pension Fund is only 45.3% funded with unfunded liability of $6.2 billion. Pension-related costs currently take up 15% of the City’s General Fund budget. With limited budgetary resources and competing priorities, as well as growing pension costs, the need to stabilize and improve the fiscal health of the Pension Fund to ensure benefits are available for current and future pensioners is great. As part of her due diligence as a trustee of the Board of Pensions and Retirement, Controller Rebecca Rhynhart, with support from her staff, analyzed the Pension Fund’s stability and its capacity to meet future obligations, evaluating the current investment strategy and the reasonableness of the assumed rate of return.
The Controller’s Office is an important part of Philadelphia City government, serving as the chief auditor for the City of Philadelphia and the financial auditor for the Philadelphia School District, performing audits to ensure they are operating efficiently, effectively and appropriately. Check out this quick guide to learn more about the auditing process.
The Office of the City Controller released the Report on Internal Control and On Compliance and Other Matters Fiscal Year 2017, finding that the City had two material weaknesses and eight significant deficiencies in its internal control over financial reporting. The material weaknesses resulted in $33 million being unaccounted for in the City’s largest cash account and $924 million in undetected material misstatements that occurred in the preparation of the City’s financial reports.
Learn more about this report and how Philadelphia stacks up compared to other cities in this quick guide.
The City Controller’s Office released a policy analysis of the City of Philadelphia’s Ten-Year Tax Abatement, which provides a 100% tax benefit for new construction and the value of improvements or conversions to existing properties. The analysis included data around the concentration and distribution of abated properties by geography and value, the profitability of development in Philadelphia, and scenarios presenting and evaluating six hypothetical changes to the policy.