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It seems as though the main area that should be routinely internally audited would be financial aid because of all of the components and specifics. Do you think that this is the case?
Elizabeth,
I agree that audit should extend to virtually all functional departments that cover the range of the student's entire life cycle with the institution.
Traci Lee
While Financial Aid is heavily regulated and should receive regular audits, I believe routine audit processes need to go beyond just one functional area.
An institution that embraces a culture of compliance will devise internal auditing processes that serve all aspects of the campus from prospective student to graduate status.
Hello my name is Joe from Montana and going through the accreditation process now. With that said, I am inquiring about this last comment which said "so much emphasis on filling quotas that it may result in dragging down the reputation of the school"
My guess would be that filling a quota of female and minority OR just have to get so many enrolled? Please clarify. Thank you - Joe
Hello my name is Joe from Montana and going through the accreditation process now. With that said, I am inquiring about this last comment which said "so much emphasis on filling quotas that it may result in dragging down the reputation of the school"
My guess would be that filling a quota of female and minority OR just have to get so many enrolled? Please clarify. Thank you - Joe
The Financial aid department is one of the most important department in the process. Is responsible for the disbursment of Chapter 1V funds in a correct manner.
Yes I believe its the most important area because when dealing with the money side everything needs to be 100% compliant
Do think so. Even when Admissions, Registrars,and Bursars office are included, most of the weight falls at the Financial Aid Office. We do the training and relay information about regulatory procedures to them!
Daisy,
You are correct that many federal regulations come through financial aid and I am glad you emphasized the need for all departments to be included in an internal audit since departments have many inter-dependencies.
Traci Lee
I think there are other departments to be considered. Since almost all the federal regulations comes through financial aid, internal audits should be at least once a year and should include all the departments in the school.
Jill,
Great points - The increased scrutiny from other approval bodies beyond Dept of Ed warrants review and updates to any internal audit checklist with areas of focus. Accrediting bodies, state agencies and any other authorities should be considered.
Traci Lee
With ED becoming more involved in the accreditation process we are looking more at the accreditation body requirements to ensure compliance with those areas (which address all functions of the school). Financial Aid has been the most regulated department in the past, but ED seems to be adding a focus on to institutional outcomes (completion results, job prospects, debt accumulation). We need to shift our thinking to an overall internal audit structure to make sure we are offering a good overall product and setting our students up for success in the workforce.
Christopher,
Great point on the inter-relationship of FA with other departments. It makes the "owner" of the responsibility mixed since FA ultimately answers to audits but other departments, such as academic and/or registrar have on areas such as those you identified.
Traci Lee
I think that above all the FA office has to be under the microscope because audits in FA equates to "proxy audits" of the other departments.This is so because the FA department touches so many other departments that an audit of it forces audits of the others. For instance, an audit of FA my bring light to the fact the proof of HS completion is not being obtained or that the SAP procedures are not being followed
Mary,
This sounds like a great cross check process that reduces audit findings and possibly also provides feedback for training areas when problems are found.
Traci Lee
I agree that the FA Dept is one that should always be under a microscope. However, as many others have mentioned, it is a piece the whole puzzle and each department is equally important for auditing purposes. Our institution has an internal audit system in place for our FA Dept. Once a student is packaged, that file gets audited by someone other than the advisor who helped package the student. If problems are found, the corrections are made, then the file is resubmitted to that internal auditor for another review. About 2 weeks prior to graduation, all FA files go through a final audit to ensure that everything is in place in that file. We've used this system at our institutions for years and have very rarely had findings in the FA Dept.
Ricardo,
I agree about the importance of financial aid audits. Remember that other departments (i.e. Registrar) can impact the outcome of those audits so there may be other areas "touched" but such.
Traci Lee
I think you're right that financial aid is one of the most important one on the internal audits and the reasons is because on this department we handled very important information for federal funds.
Renee,
Absolutely the records department needs to be included, as you noted. These records are critical on their own AND for their impact on other areas, such as financial aid.
Traci Lee
I would also include the records department in the list that needs to be audited. For one regulatory agencies require strict rules on attendance, grades, and transcripts. We not only need to keep certain forms in a each student's permanent record but we also need to track and monitor student requests etc. In addition to the rules set by regulatory agencies, any school that accepts grants or scholarships probably have additional requirements that need to be recorded in student permanent files.