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Office of Audit and Compliance

Survey

Prepared By:
Department
Phone Number
Email Address

    YES NO N/A
 
GENERAL
     
1 What is the departments mission?
2 What is the approximate annual budget for the department?
3 Has the department been subject to other audits (federal, state, university, system, program reviews, consulting reviews, accreditation, etc.) within the past 3 years for which reports are available? If so, Please email to tmesser@utdallas.edu.
4 How many employees are in the unit? Full-time, Part-time, Student.
5 Does the unit have a current organizational chart? If so please email to tmesser@utdallas.edu.
6

Is turnover in the department high?

7 Are departmental transactions complex?
 
Departmental Management
     
8 Have administrative and clerical employees taken the Training Post modules Effectively Controlling Risks and Fraud?
9 Does departmental management set an example of high integrity and ethical behavior
10

Has there been a frequency of problem behaviors within the department for the following:

  • Personal misconduct
  • Personal use of University Time
  • Personal use of University Resources
  • Personal travel at University expense
  • Substance Abuse
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Personal favoritism
11 Are personnel encouraged to report questionable occurrences/situations with anonymity, or to use the UTD Hotline?
12 Does management communicate and interact with the staff in an effective manner?
13 Does management's philosophy and operating style promote integrity and commitment?
 
Policies and Procedures
     
14 Do you have a current written policies and procedures manual specific to the department?
15 Are departmental employees aware of fraud policy?
16 Are employees aware that fraud will not be tolerated?
17 Describe any conflicts of interest in your department .
18 Are employees required to sign a conflict of interest, outside employment, or ethics statement annually?
19 Describe any publicity relating to your departments programs, activities, or personnel within the last three years?
20 Are there any special issues or areas of concern to which the department feels that Audit and Compliance should devote additional time?
21 Is the Department Head made aware of all customer and employee complaints?
22 Does your department comply w/ UTD's records retention requirements?
23 Is there a departmental process to document, follow-up, and resolve customer/employee complaints?
24 Are departmental policies developed in accordance with the University's mission, objectives and goals and in compliance w/relevant laws and regulations?
 
Accounting and Financial Reporting
     
25 Does the department prepare/perform monthly account reconciliation's?
26 Describe the reconciliation process.
27 If your department has contract & grant funds, does the Principal Investigator review the monthly account reconciliation?
28 Does the department head periodically review the reconciliation, supporting documents, and the FINS reports?
 
Organization and Staffing
     
29 Are employees' duties and responsibilities clearly defined and documented (written job descriptions etc.)?
30 Are written performance evaluations completed at least annually for all full-time and part-time faculty and staff?
31 Are duties of absent employees performed by other employees?
32 Do responsibilities of monitoring administrative and financial controls in the department reside at the department heads's level?
33 Are all staffing criteria and selections in compliance with applicable laws, regulations and mandates?
34 Does each new employee receive adequate orientation and training about the University's and the department's structure, policies and procedures, and position requirements?
35

Are employee checkout forms used for all terminating faculty, staff, and other employees such as students?

36 Is overtime handled in accordance with university policies that ensure pre approval of overtime worked?
37 Has departmental management developed a system of procedures for communicating expectations and for coordinating efforts between offices, programs and staff member (e.g. staff or management meeting, newsletters, and memoranda)?
 
Federal and State Governmental Regulations and Sponsored Programs
     
38 Does your department participate in federally funded grant activity? (if yes please answer the following questions)
39 Are department personnel sufficiently informed about all applicable federal and state laws and regulations that govern activities performed within your department?
40 Have researchers been provided with or directed to UTD's scientific misconduct policy?
41 Are all grant proposals reviewed and approved in accordance w/UTD policies and procedures before submitted to a granting agency?
42 Are your departments Principle Investigators (PI's) familiar with A-21 cost principles governing allowable costs and activities?
43 Are your department's and project directors sufficiently familiar with policies and guidelines for charging administrative or clerical salaries and other administrative costs to federal grants and contracts?
44 Are PI's familiar with effort reporting requirements to ensure that salaries charged to federal grants and contracts properly reflect the time and effort directed to the grant or contract activities?
45 Is your department familiar with the training requirements and contact individuals governing the activities mentioned above?
 
Expenses
     
46 Are the duties of ordering, receiving, approving, and accounting segregated to ensure that no one person performs all of the duties?
47 Who handles the accounting for the department?
48 Is signature authority monitored and updated when employees are hired and/ or terminated?
49 Are procedures in place to ensure compliance with applicable policies and procedures?
50 Is there a process in place to ensure that only those goods/services reasonable and necessary to the departments mission are purchased?
51 Excluding travel, is sales tax reimbursed for purchases, including SOS orders, procurement cards, reimbursements, petty cash funds?
52 Are business expense reimbursements and travel reimbursements made in accordance with UTD policies?
53 Are procurement card transactions handled in compliance with UTD policies and procedures?
54 Are original receipts monitored for procurement card transactions?
55 Are employee who process travel, procurement cards and other expenses trained in UTD procedures?
56 Are contracts forwarded to procurement management for appropriate approvals?
 
Travel and Entertainment
     
57 Who approves the travel and entertainment vouchers (business expense reimbursements) for the department head?
58 Are original travel and entertainment receipts (e.g., airline ticket stubs, hotel folios, restaurant receipts (if actual's are submitted), etc.) required before reimbursement of employee travel and entertainment expenses?
59

Does your department use the Business Expense Reimbursement form for entertainment expenses?

60 Are there processes in place to ensure that travel policies and procedures are followed?
 
Revenues and Receipts
     
61 Does your department collect cash/checks? If no, go go the next section.
62 If Yes, what types of revenues does your department receive?
63 Are the duties of receiving, account reconciliation, and deposit preparation appropriately segregated to ensure the same person does not perform all of these duties?
64 Is incoming mail, which includes checks, opened by an employee who does not prepare deposits and does not have access to accounting records?
65 Does the employee assigned to the opening of incoming mail prepare a list of cash and checks received?
66 If so, is this list compared to cash deposit records, bank records, and the accounting records?
67 Are all cash/check funds properly accounted for and appropriately deposited in accordance with cash handling policies?
68 Are cash/check funds continuously monitored, reconciled and confirmed to ensure accuracy?
69 Are cash/check processing duties appropriately segregated and monitored by management?
70 Are cash/check funds properly safeguarded?
71 Are checks restrictively endorsed immediately upon receipt?
72 What is (are) the Petty Cash fund amount(s)? Who is the Custodian?
73 If you have a petty cash fund, do you follow UTD BPM No. 27?
74 Are deposits made on a daily basis or according to University Policy? How often?
75 Have there been any thefts of $25 or more in the last 12 months?
76 If so, were they reported to the University Police?
 

Over the Counter Sales
if your department does not collect revenues for goods or services please skip to the next section

     
77 Are sequential pre-numbered receipts completed and initialed by the issuer when money is received?
78 Are all pre-numbered receipts and copies accounted for?
79 Are the receipts secured?
80 Are un issued receipts periodically accounted for?
81 Does each person receiving cash have a separate drawer or register?
82 Is access to the cashiers drawer or register secured from others by locks and secret passwords used to distinguish between cashiers (if more than one uses the register or when the cashier is away)?
83 Are receipts compared to the supporting documentation by persons other than those receiving payments and completing the receipts on a daily basis?
84 Do you track the amount of over/shorts, voids and refunds per cashier?
85 Are all voids and refunds approved by a supervisor?
86 If a safe is used, are combinations secured from access AND changed when employees leave the department or change their responsibilities?
87 Has your office requested or performed background checks on prospective cashiers?
88 Does your department do surprise cash counts?
 
Asset Management
     
89 Who is the equipment custodian or employee charged with responsibility for all department assets?
90 Are periodic inventories taken by someone other than the custodian?
91 Do departmental procedures require that property and equipment that is obsolete be removed from property records in accordance with policies and procedures?
92 Does the department have adequate procedures to report and control the movement and disposition of all property unauthorized access?
93 Does the department have an up-to-date inventory listing of all tangible assets? Indicate date of last inventory.
94 Are all items of University Property labeled or marked with University property numbers?
95 Are property custody records on file for property used off-site?
96 Describe any theft of property during the past 2 years.
 
Time Reporting
     
97 Who prepares the human resources (HRS) forms?
98 Who approves them?
99 Is approval for overtime in advance and in writing by the employees supervisor?
100 Does someone other than the preparer approve the time recap sheets?
101 Does the department use a separate form to request, approve and record vacation leave, sick leave and other absences?
102 Does the department monitor vacation, sick leave, and other absences?
103 Is payroll, including exception time, recorded on time sheets, timecards or other documentation?
104 Are they payroll expense reports reviewed on a monthly basis to determine the validity and accuracy of payroll charges and credits?
 
Information Resources Security
     
105 Has the department ever experienced a theft of computer equipment?
106 Are surge protectors used to safeguard the departments components against damage from electrical power surges?
107 Are rooms with significant computer components locked during non-office hours?
108 Is a disaster backup and recovery plan in place and routinely reviewed and revised?
109 DOes each employee, including work-study students, have separate user ID and password?
110 Do employees, including work-study students, share passwords/user ID's?
111 Are any workstations with sensitive information in locations with high traffic?
112 Is confidential and sensitive information appropriately handled?
113 Have ALL employees signed non-disclosure statement agreements with Information Resources?
114 Do employees maintain confidential files or databases?
115 Are files backed up?
116 Does the department inform employees of the University's policy regarding software copyrights?
117 Does the department have procedures in place to discourage software copyright infringement on University Computer equipment?
 
Students
If your department does not process grades, please go to the next section
     
118 Are student course-related information (e.g., examinations, grading, keys, etc.) restricted from unauthorized access?
119 Are grades entered into the system by the Registrar verified by the department for accuracy?
120 Does your department process scholarships and/or fellowships?
121 If yes, approximately how many, and what are the annual expenses?
 
Faculty Workload
(academic departments only)
     
122 Which individual in your area is responsible for monitoring the faculty workload requirements outline in the Faculty Handbook?
123 Who reviews and approves the monitoring?
 
Controlled Substances/Safety
     
124 Is there use of controlled substances for research or the storage/handling of any controlled substance in this department?
125 If Yes, are controlled substances adequately monitored and stored in accordance with UTD policies?

Updated: February 1, 2008