Overview
In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) has conducted a performance audit of the Department of Energy Resources’ (DOER’s) Green Communities Division (GCD) for the period July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020.
We conducted this performance audit in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Below is a list of our objectives, indicating each question we intended our audit to answer; the conclusion we reached regarding each objective; and in, if applicable, where each objective is discussed in the audit finding.
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Objective |
Conclusion |
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Yes |
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No; see Finding 1 |
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No; see Finding 2 |
To achieve our objectives, we gained an understanding of GCD’s internal control environment as it relates to the objectives by reviewing DOER and GCD policies and procedures and by conducting inquires with DOER management regarding the administration of the Green Communities Designation and Grant Program. We evaluated the design of GCD’s green community designation process and the collection and review of the annual reports submitted by green communities, and we tested the design and the operating effectiveness of the administration of Green Communities Designation and Grant Program expenditures.
We performed the following procedures to obtain sufficient, appropriate audit evidence to address the audit objectives.
- To determine whether GCD ensured that municipalities applying for green community designation met all the required criteria, we selected a nonstatistical, judgmental sample of 20 of the 61 municipalities that GCD designated as green communities during the audit period. We obtained and reviewed the application documentation that these 20 municipalities submitted in DOER’s iMeet Central system, the Web portal that GCD uses to allow municipalities to submit their green community designation applications. We reviewed documentation (such as zoning bylaws, energy reduction plans, and an inventory of vehicles) and determined whether these 20 municipalities had submitted all the required application documentation and whether the documentation they submitted substantiated that they met all five criteria to be eligible for green community designation. We used nonstatistical sampling methods and therefore did not project the results of our testing to the population.
- To determine whether GCD received and assessed required annual reports from all green communities, we requested, and received from GCD officials, GCD’s list of all the annual reports it received during the audit period. We compared the list to the population of green communities that were required to submit annual reports during the audit period and determined which, if any, green communities had not submitted their required annual reports.
- To determine whether Green Communities Designation and Grant Program funds were used for their intended purposes, we reviewed all the invoices and contracts for designation grant expenses paid by the 21 municipalities that had been designated as green communities during the audit period and had received grant funding.
Data Reliability
To determine the reliability of GCD’s list of green communities, we obtained the list from GCD management. We selected a random sample of 10 green communities from the list and determined whether the green community designation dates on the list matched the dates on the green community designation letters that GCD sent to the municipalities when they were granted the designation. We also compared the names on the list to the list of municipalities in Massachusetts from the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s website to ensure that all the green communities on GCD’s list were municipalities in Massachusetts.
To determine the reliability of GCD’s list of municipal annual reports it received during our audit period, we selected a random sample of 15 green communities’ annual reports and determined whether the reports appeared on GCD’s list and whether the submission dates matched those on the list.
In 2018, OSA conducted a data reliability assessment of the Massachusetts Management Accounting and Reporting System (MMARS), the state’s accounting system, for the period April 1, 2017 through March 31, 2018. This assessment focused on reviewing selected system controls, including access, security awareness, auditing and accountability, configuration management, identification, authentication, and personnel security. During the current audit, to determine the reliability of GCD’s list of green communities that received Green Communities Designation and Grant Program funds during the audit period, we selected a random sample of 10 communities that had sent invoices to GCD during the audit period. We requested all DOER’s MMARS Records Management / Authorized Signature Forms reflecting disbursements made to these communities during the audit period. In addition, we selected a random sample of these designation grant disbursements in MMARS for 10 green communities and compared their payment information to DOER’s MMARS Records Management / Authorized Signature Forms to determine whether the information matched. Further, we obtained from GCD a list of all 21 green communities that had been awarded designation grants and expended them during our audit period and compared the designation grant award amounts on GCD’s list to those in the municipalities’ designation grant agreements.
Based on the results of our data reliability assessment, we determined that the information obtained for our audit period was sufficiently reliable for the purposes of our audit work.
| Date published: | November 10, 2021 |
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