July 1999 Issue

Participants Needed for Department of Transportation Pilot Program

By James L. Craig, Jr., CPA

The New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking a number of local governments or public authorities in New York and their auditors to participate in a limited number of trial single audits of state transportation programs.

To qualify, the government must be the recipient of $100,000 or more of state DOT funds and be required to have an audit done pursuant to the Federal Single Audit Act. Under a contract with the auditor and the DOT, the auditor of the volunteering local government will expand its coverage of internal controls and compliance with laws and regulation coverage to include New York DOT funds.

An ad hoc committee working with DOT, under the leadership of Thomas Goodfellow of the DOT Contract Audit Bureau, is in the final stages of developing a guide for use during the trial audit period. The guide will set forth the various laws and regulations that the auditor will be required to test as part of the expanded single audit.

The trial program will field-test the guide and provide experience for the implementation of Transportation Law section 21, which originally required expanded single audit coverage of state DOT programs effective for fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 1999, for all New York local governments and public authorities meeting the $100,000 threshold. Legislation that extends the effective date two years until January 1, 2001, to allow for the program to be completed and evaluated recently passed the Senate and the Assembly and is awaiting action by the governor.

DOT, according to Goodfellow, plans to permit a fair amount of latitude and experimentation in the trial program, including possible use of agreed-upon procedures for testing compliance with laws and regulations. Limited funding is being provided by DOT to cover all or part of the cost of the trial program audits. Barring any unusual findings or other indicators of problems, local governments that agree to participate will not be subject to any other DOT audits for the period covered in the trial program.

Local governments and auditors of local governments interested in participating should contact Goodfellow at (518) 457-3180 or tgoodfellow@gw.dot.state.ny.us. *