Residential Support Services, Inc.

This is a state performance audit of Residential Support Services, Inc., a nonprofit that provides assisted and supported living services for elderly people.

“Residential Support Services, Inc. (RSSI) is a not-for-profit organization that provides assisted- and supported-living services to the elderly.”

The audit looked at whether the organization’s board was set up properly and carried out oversight duties required by rules, contracts, and guidance.

“The purpose of this audit was to assess whether RSSI’s board of directors was constituted, and performed various oversight functions, in a manner consistent with applicable regulations, contractual terms and conditions, and other guidance.”

The state spends large amounts of public money on private human-service providers, so boards need to make sure those providers are run responsibly.

“Each fiscal year, state agencies purchase more than $2 billion in services from private human-service organizations that are governed by boards of directors.”

For taxpayers and residents, the report says this provider’s board oversight passed the specific checks the auditor performed.

“Below is a list of our audit objectives, indicating each question we intended our audit to answer and the conclusion we reached regarding each objective.”

The auditor did not identify significant deficiencies requiring attention from the board or state oversight agencies.

“For the areas reviewed that were related to our audit objectives, we did not identify any significant deficiencies warranting attention by those responsible for governance and state oversight agencies.”

The report does not list corrective actions, because the auditor did not report significant problems in the reviewed areas.

“Our audit revealed no significant instances of noncompliance that must be reported under generally accepted government auditing standards.”

The audit supports accountability in state human-service contracting and found RSSI met the specific board oversight requirements reviewed.

“This audit was conducted as part of OSA’s ongoing efforts to audit human-service contract activity by state agencies and to promote accountability, transparency, and cost effectiveness in state contracting.”

The board’s role is to oversee the organization, set policies, evaluate the top executive, and make sure laws, rules, policies, and contracts are followed.

“Board members perform a variety of key fiduciary functions for organizations, including overseeing overall operation; setting policies and procedures to ensure that objectives are met; hiring and evaluating the top executive; and ensuring compliance with established laws, regulations, policies and procedures, and contractual obligations.”