STATE OF CONNECTICUT | ||
AUDITORS OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS | ||
KEVIN P. JOHNSTON | 210
CAPITOL AVENUE HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT 06106-1559 |
ROBERT G. JAEKLE |
Governor John G. Rowland
Members of the General Assembly
We have audited the accompanying general purpose financial statements of the State of Connecticut as of and for the year ended June 30, 1998, as listed in the table of contents. These general purpose financial statements are the responsibility of the State's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these general purpose financial statements based on our audit. We did not audit the financial statements of the Special Transportation Fund accounts within the Transportation Fund, which represent 14 percent and 77 percent, respectively, of the assets and revenues of the Special Revenue Funds; we did not audit the financial statements of the Transportation Special Tax Obligations Fund, which represent 100 percent and 99 percent, respectively, of the assets and revenues of the Debt Service Funds; we did not audit the financial statements of the Bradley International Airport, the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, or the John Dempsey Hospital Fund, which represent 86 percent and 99 percent, respectively, of the assets and revenues of the Enterprise Funds; we did not audit the financial statements of the Clean Water Fund, which represent four percent and one percent, respectively, of the assets and revenues of the Trust and Agency Funds; we did not audit the financial statements of the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, the Connecticut Development Authority, the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority, the Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority, and Connecticut Innovations Incorporated, which represent 100 percent of the assets and revenues of the Component Unit Funds; and, we did not audit the financial statements of the Connecticut State University or the University of Connecticut Foundation, which represent 35 percent and 38 percent, respectively, of the assets and revenues of the Higher Education and University Hospital Funds. Those financial statements were audited by other auditors whose reports thereon have been furnished to us, and our opinion, insofar as it relates to the amounts included for the aforementioned funds and accounts, is based solely on the reports of other auditors. All of the aforementioned audits were conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. In addition, the audits of the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, Connecticut Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority, Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, Connecticut Development Authority, Connecticut Lottery Corporation, Connecticut Innovations Incorporated, and Clean Water Fund, were conducted in accordance with standards applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States.
Except as discussed in the following paragraph, we conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and the standards applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States, except that the audits of certain component units of the State, as described above, were not conducted in accordance with Government Auditing Standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the general purpose financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit and the reports of other auditors provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Governmental Accounting Standards Board Technical Bulletin 98-1, Disclosures About Year 2000 Issues, requires disclosure of certain matters regarding the year 2000 issue. The State of Connecticut has included such disclosures in Note 25. Because of the unprecedented nature of the year 2000 issue, its effects and the success of related remediation efforts will not be fully determinable until the year 2000 and thereafter. Accordingly, insufficient audit evidence exists to support the State of Connecticut's disclosures with respect to the year 2000 issue made in Note 25. Further, we do not provide assurance that the State of Connecticut is or will be year 2000 ready, that the State of Connecticut's year 2000 remediation efforts will be successful in whole or in part, or that parties with which the State of Connecticut does business will be year 2000 ready.
In our opinion, except for the effects of such adjustments, if any, as might have been determined to be necessary had we been able to examine evidence regarding year 2000 disclosures, and based on our audit and the reports of other auditors, the general purpose financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the State of Connecticut as of June 30, 1998, and the results of its operations and the cash flows of its proprietary fund types and nonexpendable trust funds for the year then ended in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
In accordance with Government Auditing Standards, we have also issued a report dated December 31, 1998, on our consideration of the State of Connecticut's internal control over financial reporting and our tests of its compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts and grants.
As discussed in Note 23 to the financial statements, the State of Connecticut is a defendant in certain legal proceedings. The ultimate outcome of the litigation cannot presently be determined. Accordingly, no provision for any liability that may result upon adjudication has been made in the accompanying financial statements
Our audit was performed for the purpose of forming an opinion on the general purpose financial statements of the State of Connecticut taken as a whole. The combining and individual fund and account group financial statements and schedules listed in the table of contents are presented for purposes of additional analysis and are not a required part of the general purpose financial statements. Such information has been subjected to the auditing procedures applied in the audit of the general purpose financial statements and, in our opinion, is fairly presented, in all material respects, in relation to the general purpose financial statements taken as a whole.
The data in the statistical section listed in the table of contents was not audited by us and, accordingly, we express no opinion thereon.
Kevin P. Johnston | Robert G. Jaekle |
Auditor of Public Accounts | Auditor of Public Accounts |
December 31, 1998
State Capitol
Hartford, Connecticut