Section 2-1224 - Audit reports.
§ 2-1224. Audit reports.
(a) Report of employees.- Except with the written approval of the Legislative Auditor, an employee or authorized representative of the Office of Legislative Audits shall submit any report of findings only to the Legislative Auditor.
(b) Report of Legislative Auditor.-
(1) On the completion of each examination, the Legislative Auditor shall submit a full and detailed report to the Joint Audit Committee.
(2) A report shall include:
(i) the findings;
(ii) any appropriate recommendations for changes in record keeping or in other conduct of the unit or body that is the subject of the report; and
(iii) any response of that unit or body, subject to procedures approved by the Joint Audit Committee.
(c) Distribution by Legislative Auditor.- The Legislative Auditor shall send a copy of the report to:
(1) the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Delegates;
(2) the Chairmen of the Senate Budget and Taxation and House Appropriations Committees;
(3) members of the General Assembly, subject to § 2-1246 of this subtitle;
(4) the Governor;
(5) the Comptroller;
(6) the State Treasurer;
(7) the Attorney General;
(8) the unit or body that is the subject of the report;
(9) the Secretary of Budget and Management;
(10) the Executive Director; and
(11) any other person whom the Joint Audit Committee specifies.
(d) Additional distributions.- In addition to the requirements of subsection (c) of this section, each report of a local school system shall be distributed to the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee and the cochairs of the Joint Committee on the Management of Public Funds.
(e) Public access.- After the expiration of any period that the Joint Audit Committee specifies, a report of the Legislative Auditor is available to the public under §§ 10-602 and 10-611 through 10-628 of this article.
(f) Review of unit's response; advice of Legislative Auditor.-
(1) The Legislative Auditor shall review each unit's response and advise the unit of the results of the review. The Legislative Auditor shall advise the Joint Audit Committee when:
(i) a unit does not make a response to a recommendation;
(ii) a unit does not indicate action to be taken in response to a recommendation;
(iii) a unit has not taken the action the unit indicated in its response to a recommendation;
(iv) a unit requests a waiver from a recommendation; or
(v) the response by the unit is not considered appropriate to carry out the recommendation.
(2) The Executive Director or the Joint Audit Committee may direct the Legislative Auditor to undertake a review to determine the extent to which action has been taken by a unit to implement a report recommendation.
(3) With respect to findings and recommendations of a fiscal/compliance nature, the Committee may recommend to the Governor and the Comptroller that the unit take the corrective action the unit indicates would be taken or take action to correct the findings in the report or the Committee may grant a waiver from the recommended action.
(4) Within 45 days after receipt of the recommendation the Governor shall advise the Committee as to the action taken with respect to the recommendation.
(5) Without concurrence of the Comptroller, the Committee may not waive a recommendation of the Legislative Auditor with respect to fiscal and financial record keeping, a uniform system of accounting, or the submission of fiscal and financial reports by the units.
(6) With respect to findings and recommendations of a performance nature, the Committee may make recommendations to the Governor or propose legislation after reviewing a unit's response to a recommended action.
(7) The Legislative Auditor shall review each local school system's response to an audit conducted under § 2-1220(e) of this subtitle and advise the local school system of the results of the review. The Legislative Auditor shall advise the Joint Audit Committee when a local school system:
(i) does not make a response to a recommendation;
(ii) does not indicate action to be taken in response to a recommendation;
(iii) has not taken the action the local school system indicated in its response to a recommendation; or
(iv) responds in a manner that is not considered appropriate to carry out the recommendation.
(8) The Executive Director or the Joint Audit Committee may direct the Legislative Auditor to undertake a review to determine the extent to which action has been taken by a local school system to implement a report recommendation.
(9) With respect to findings and recommendations made to a local school system, the Joint Audit Committee may make recommendations to the Governor, State Superintendent of Schools, the local school governing board, or local school officials after reviewing a local school system's response to a recommended action.
(g) Monitoring systems and processes.-
(1) The Governor and the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals shall implement systems and processes to monitor the efforts of the executive departmental units and the Judiciary, respectively, to correct audit findings reported by the Office of Legislative Audits.
(2) Within 9 months of the most recent audit report, any unit of State government that has five or more repeat audit findings shall report to the Office of Legislative Audits for each finding in that audit report:
(i) the corrective actions taken; or
(ii) a schedule for when specific corrective actions will be implemented.
(3) Each unit required to report to the Office of Legislative Audits under paragraph (2) of this subsection shall continue to report to the Office of Legislative Audits on a quarterly basis after the initial report until the actions reported by the agency indicate that satisfactory progress has been made to address all findings.
[An. Code 1957, art. 40, § 61B; 1984, ch. 284, § 1; 1985, ch. 556; 1988, ch. 6, § 1; 1991, ch. 55, § 6; 1994, ch. 3, § 3; 1996, ch. 349, § 13; 1997, ch. 635, § 2; ch. 636, § 2; 2004, ch. 25, § 6; 2006, ch. 512.]