Management accepts the finding and notes that the prior year finding was not reported until near the end of the current audit period, contributing to the repeat finding. Effective in June 2022, payroll authorizations were directed through the PeopleSoft system to the Payroll Manager who prepared and...
Management accepts the finding and notes that the prior year finding was not reported until near the end of the current audit period, contributing to the repeat finding. Effective in June 2022, payroll authorizations were directed through the PeopleSoft system to the Payroll Manager who prepared and documented the necessary allocation calculation. This calculation, along with a copy of the original payroll authorization for the employee and the superseding payroll authorization were sent to the Associate Controller for review and verification. This secondary review was marked approved and returned to the Payroll Manager for final entry in the payroll system and records archiving. Further, a campus committee with representatives from the offices of; Controller, Information Technology, Sponsored Research Services, Payroll and Academic Affairs Operations was formed to further review and address this prior year finding. The Committee has developed a form within PeopleSoft that will allow for entering payroll authorization data, system calculation of applicable fringe adjustments, and a system driven workflow review and approval process from initial entry by the Principal Investigator to approval by Sponsored Research Services to the approval by either the Research Accountant or the Associate Controller for posting of all prior period reallocations. Any adjustments affecting future periods will be processed through the existing payroll authorization process and system entered by the Payroll Office. System testing of this reallocation process is currently taking place with implementation scheduled for April 1, 2023. A further enhancement of automating the related journal entry posting upon final approval by the Research Accountant or Associate Controller is expected to be implemented by May 1, 2023. InAnticipated Completion Date June 30, 2023 Responsible Person Keith Rosser, Controller William McGarry, Chief Financial Officer light of the repeat finding, the University will further engage an outside firm to conduct an internal audit of the Payroll Department with a focus on reviewing current processes from employee set up through issuance of compensation and filing of state and federal forms. This expected outcome of this review will be to identify areas of potential weakness, process improvement, and current utilization of existing financial systems and tools.