FROM: Amy McInerny, Chief Financial Officer
SUBJECT: Informational: Agreed Upon Procedures Reports: Benefit Payments (and Refunds) and the Investment Program
RECOMMENDATION:
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Agreed Upon Procedures Reports for Benefit Payments (and Refunds) and the Investment Program.
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BACKGROUND:
On June 13, 2025, the Board approved an Audit Workplan for FY 2024-25 to cover two key work activities. After the key work areas were approved by the Board, staff issued a Request for Proposals and the Board approved Brown Armstrong Accountancy Corporation to perform agreed upon procedures in the areas below to identify and mitigate any internal control deficiencies.
Investment Program - SBCERA Investment Policy No. 001 (Investment Plan, Policy and Guidelines) is approved by the Board with the purpose of establishing sufficient flexibility in the management oversight process while setting forth reasonable parameters to ensure prudence and care in the execution of the investment program. As part of this policy, the Board delegates specific authority to Staff to assist the Investment Committee and Board in implementing the investment program.
The agreed upon procedures performed for the Investment Program identified no findings and resulted in no recommendations for enhancements to internal controls or policies
Benefit Payments (and Refunds) - In July 2024, SBCERA revised the process by which continuing benefits and refunds are issued. The counseling and document collection are still performed by the Member Services and Disability Unit teams. New to the process, the Fiscal Services team sets up and reviews all new benefits. A new payment process and schedule remits payments every two weeks to incorporate all refunds and newly set up benefit payments. A new payment process is also done once per month to pay all continuing benefits. The new process was designed to increase efficiency, reduce the time between retirement and first payment date, and increase ...
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