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Do you think it is better to audit all departments at the same time or audit a different department each quarter?
Mehrdad,
Glad to hear your process is working well for your institution. I think a lot depends on size and scope of each institution's compliance requirements.
Traci Lee
I personally think its way better to audit a different department each quarter. You don't want to be over whelmed and over look something. What WE personally do is audit everything by quarter and I find it very easy and most importantly extremely efficient.
Latika,
I see your point. However, some items can "overlap" - such as how a last date of attendance, typically recorded by a registrar, impacts the financial aid department for any refunds due on Title IV funding. Sometimes audits are what raise the awareness of one department's impact upon another, which can be beneficial to reviewing any processes that could be improved upon.
Traci Lee
In my opinion, I think it would be best to perform an audit of each department individually. This way while one department is actually going through the audit. The auditor can focus only on this particular department, while the other department get prepared for their upcoming audit.
Same here - smaller school. I was wondering when you do perform the audits on all departments, do you let them know ahead of time or is it always a surprise audit?
Naji,
I think the rotational department approach is a good way to keep up on continual monitoring of key areas of concern.
Traci Lee
I think we can do auditing by focusing on different departments each quarter or each month. For example, academics one quarter, admissions the next, and career services the following and
financial aid the fourth quarter.Also,based on the size of the institute, we can structure an auditing program.
I work at a small school so auditing all departments simultaneously is less of a challenge than in a larger school. Of course, we have less staff to perform the work. As I am setting up compliant procedures and policies, I am incorporating oversight into the work flow. This includes the exchange of knowledge between departments. I envision a team where we truly understand what each of the individuals is responsible for and where we can step in to help as needed.
Kim,
Great to hear that you are getting things "back on track". It's easy to let such internal reviews fall to the bottom of the "to do" list and I applaud you making this a priority to work on things now rather than last minute in preparation for the visit you referenced.
Traci Lee
I think it depends on the scope of audit. It is always best to do random mock audits to ensure that everything is within compliance.
Within our department, we were auditing our academic records 3 times a year. We went through some managerial changes over the few years and got away from doing the audits. After not doing them for 2 years I have seen a shift in how accurately our records are kept.
We have been trying to re-institute the audits back into our tasks since they have great value and to get us on task for when COMTA comes in a couple years.
I plan to audit my files on a more regular basis to "prepare" for an alternate dean to review our files. This will get us back on track for preparing for our site visit in a couple years.
We currently do 2 internal audits quarterly.
One is conducted by the department manager and the other by someone that is from a different department. We do all departments at the same time and find it better to do it that way.
At the end of the audits it's very interesting comparing the department manager's finding to that of the outsider and a lot is learned.
We have been doing this for a year now and our audits are going much better!
Marlene - thanks for sharing such a positive perspective on internal audits. Getting everyone to understand the benefits is sometimes challenging and I hope your attitude and approach brings you great success!
Different department each quarter, I personally use the internal audits as a toll to control if a process is not working properly. We have a lot in our plates each day and sometimes we may miss a simple step that can cost us a finding. I like to take pride on my work and this audits helps me to correct them if need it. I look at it as something positive for my deparment.
A chronological approach often seems most effective but you are likely not alone on doing a more reactive approach to address issues as they arose. There are several lists and suggestions throughout these discussion threads with recommended approaches to assist in a proactive means to internal audit. Ultimately, operations that have "built in" cross checks as part of the daily processes best serve assurance of compliance. For example, as student records transition from one department to another (i.e. enrollment and/or admissions to the registrar) a review of file content and completeness can catch errors while there is time to appropriately fix them.
My school was recently purchased, which has prompted many audits. I believe the internal audits are a positive thing for the school; however, I believe the best method to auditing could be a process oriented audit. I suggest we start with the entire enrollment process and continue all the way through to graduation. If we audited in this manner, we would have been better able to see the areas needing immediate attention. Instead we chose to audit after we found a problem. This provides for only specific auditing, instead of policy and procedure auditing. Your thoughts?
I have trouble with my managers (the Admissions Director or Student Services Director or Financial Manager) doing a self audit because they won't want me (the School Director)to find fault with them. Yet unless an outsider can access information (which is all on their individual computers)I wouldn't be able to see if they were doing their job according to our standards. I think I need more methods of reporting to me on a weekly basis.