1.0
PURPOSE:
with reasonable assurance that the
university’s financial systems produce accurate financial information, that the
university’s assets are safeguarded, that the university is in compliance with
the university’s fiscal policies, and state and federal laws and regulations,
and that the university’s resources are used efficiently and
effectively.
2.0
RESPONSIBILITIES
2.1
The Office of Business Affairs, under
the direction of the Vice President for Business Affairs, has overall
responsibility for the fiscal affairs of the university.
2.2
The Office of Business Affairs has
four departments under its control.
2.2.1
They are the Administrative
Accounting Department, Budget Office, Purchasing and Property Department, and
Facilities and Plant Operations Department.
2.2.2
In addition, the university bookstore
and other university departments operate under the fiscal control
program.
2.3
Each of these departments carries out
the fiscal control program by creating and maintaining an environment that is
conducive to promoting the goals of the fiscal control
program.
2.4
The departments’ responsibilities are
to create and maintain the necessary policies and procedures, to communicate the
policies and procedures to employees, and to monitor their compliance with the
policies and procedures.
3.0
INTERNAL
CONTROLS
3.1
Internal controls are an integral
part of the university’s fiscal control program.
3.1.1
These internal controls are intended
to ensure reliable financial information, to safeguard university assets, and to
ensure that the university is in compliance with university fiscal policies and
applicable laws.
3.2
Individual university departments
establish policies and procedures that are designed to reduce the possibility
for a single person to be in a position to create and conceal errors or
irregularities without the timely detection by other employees in the normal
course of performing their duties.
3.2.1
These policies and procedures are
designed to accomplish this goal by segregating authorization, recording, and
custodianship responsibilities to separate individuals.
3.2.2
Internal control policies and
procedures also contain provisions that prevent unauthorized access to
university assets in order to safeguard them.
4.0
INTERNAL AUDITS
4.1
The Internal Auditor Department
provides an independent function to appraise the control systems that management
of the university has established.
4.2
Internal Auditing is a management
control that functions to:
4.2.1
Ensure results are consistent with
established objectives/goals and operations or programs are carried out as
planned
4.2.2
Ensure economical and efficient use
of resources;
4.2.3
Safeguard
assets;
4.2.4
Ensure compliance with policies,
plans, procedures, laws and regulations; and, appraise the reliability and
integrity of financial information by evaluating the means developed by
management to identify, classify, measure and report such
information.
4.3
The Internal Auditor reports
administratively to the President of the University and functionally to the
University of Louisiana System Director of Field Audits.
5.0
SECURITY
PROCEDURES
5.1
Cash
Collections
5.1.1
In addition to segregation of duties,
internal control procedures contain specific controls to safeguard cash
collections.
5.1.2
The university cashier is the main
collector of cash payments to the university.
5.1.3
A limited number of departments are
authorized to collect some cash payments.
5.1.3.1
For these departments, university
police transport the funds in locked bank bags from the department where the
funds were collected to the university cashier.
5.1.3.2
Prior to the transfer of funds to
university police, individual departments reconcile cash collections to
supporting documentation.
5.1.3.3
When the university cashier receives
the funds, they are recounted, reconciled to supporting documentation and then
deposited with banking institutions.
5.1.3.4
The cashier deposits these
collections daily.
5.2
Building Access
5.2.1
The university has policies and
procedures in place to account and limit the keys issued for buildings on
campus.
5.2.2
In order to receive a key, a specific
request must be made by the employee’s immediate supervisor.
5.2.3
The employee must sign an agreement
regarding the responsibilities assumed when receiving a key.
5.2.4
If a key is lost or stolen, locks are
re-keyed so that the building security is not
compromised.