OSA Weekly Update - 10/24/2025
1. Message from Auditor Blaha
2. Available: Investment Report Cards
3. Avoiding Pitfall: Monitoring Internal Controls
1. Message from Auditor Blaha
Stay connected! The Office of the State Auditor (OSA) is committed to transparency, accountability and supporting local governments across Minnesota. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to access the information you need to best serve your community. To keep up with our latest reports, deadlines and more, make sure to share the OSA Weekly Update sign-up with your colleagues.
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2. Available: Investment Report Cards
The OSA annually provides an “Investment Report Card” as an educational tool to each fire relief association. The report card provides one-year and multi-year rates of return calculated for the relief association as well as a custom benchmark rate of return. The Fire Relief Association Reporting Compliance Dashboard has been updated to include a download link to view a relief association’s Investment Report Card for the current reporting year and prior years. Select a relief association and year, and a download link will be displayed above the list of submitted reporting forms if an Investment Report Card is available.
3. Avoiding Pitfall: Monitoring Internal Controls
One of the most important steps public entities can take to prevent fraud is to monitor their internal controls on a regular basis. Monitoring allows entities to determine (a) if the controls are being followed, and (b) if the controls are still effective. An entity may adopt a control, but that control will not be effective if employees or management consistently ignore or circumvent the control. Additionally, changes in an entity or the environment in which the entity functions may reduce the effectiveness of internal controls. Those changes could stem from budget reductions, which could result in organizational restructuring or in a modification in the services provided by the entity. Changes could also stem from technology changes, such as updated information systems. A best practice is to establish a schedule on which each internal control will be reviewed and tested to see if it is functioning as intended and still effective. Annually is a common cycle for such reviews; entities that do not have the capacity to review all controls annually may wish to stagger review cycles over multiple years. When inadequacies in an existing control are detected, either through a scheduled review or through day-to-day work, the entity should act promptly to correct the problem, either through a revised control (if needed) or through action to ensure that the existing control is being applied as intended.
Maintaining sound internal controls is an ongoing process, which is vital to protecting public assets.
The full Avoiding Pitfall is available on the OSA website.