Finding 129 (2023-001)

Significant Deficiency Repeat Finding
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2023
Accepted
2023-10-18
Audit: 218
Organization: Virginia Union University (VA)
Auditor: Brown Edwards

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: Institutions must reconcile the Direct Loan Program monthly to comply with Department of Education requirements.
  • Impacted Requirements: Failure to reconcile can lead to repeat findings, as seen in FA-2022-001, affecting both financial aid and business office operations.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: Ensure cooperation between financial aid and business offices for internal and external reconciliations, address any discrepancies promptly, and retain all documentation for audits.

Finding Text

Perspective information: The Department of Education requires Institutions to reconcile the Direct Loan Program monthly. Identification of repeat findings: Yes, see FA-2022-001. Recommendation: We recommend that the DL Reconciliation process include cooperation between the business and financial aid offices given the financial aid office is the source of information reported to and from COD, and the business office is responsible for the drawdown of funds from the Department of Education’s G5 website as well as for disbursing DL funds to student accounts. At a minimum, the frequency of the DL Reconciliation must be monthly to meet compliance requirements. The financial and business offices should first perform an internal reconciliation of their records, identifying any reconciling items at a detailed (student) level. Once this internal reconciliation is complete, the University should perform the external reconciliation to COD’s records via the SAS data file, identifying any reconciling items at a detailed level. Reconciling items from both the internal and external reconciliations should be evaluated for items that require corrective action(s). Corrective actions should be taken timely to correct any issues identified by this process. Finally, cumulative data in G5, such as net drawdowns and net accepted and posted disbursements, should be incorporated into the reconciliation to ensure the University is in compliance with Department of Education’s Cash Management requirements as of month-end. The University should retain these reconciliations, including all supporting documentation, for purposes of internal and/or external examination. Views of responsible officials: See Client’s Corrective Action Plan.

Corrective Action Plan

Criteria: Institutions are required to report all Direct Loan (DL) disbursements and submit required records to the Department of Education's Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) which is a web-based system for processing, storing and reconciling DL financial aid data. Each month, the COD provides Institutions with a School Account Statement (SAS) date file which consists of a Cash Summary, Cash Detail and (optional at the request of the school) Loan Detail records. The school is required to reconcile these files to the Insitution's financial records ("DL Reconciliations"). While the University has made significant improvements in this reconciliation process and that of the other related federal award programs, there are still unreconciled differences in all three major federal pass-through program's reonciliations as noted in the financial statement audit. However, for FY23, these differences netted to an immaterial difference overall and were no adjusted / passed during the financial statement audit. However, differences still remain, and the reconciliation process still needs to be improved upon. The University concurs with the audit finding and will adhere to the corrective action plan. Corrective action: The Student Financial Aid activity was reconciled among the Registrar, Financial Aid, and Business Offices as of June 30, 2023, at detailed (student) level. Monthly reconciliations will be maintained effective July 2023. Responsible Person(s): Robert Merino, Executive Director of Financial Aid jrmerino@vuu.edu 218 795-6190. Planned Date of Completion of Corrective Action: December 31, 2023.

Categories

Student Financial Aid Cash Management Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 130 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 131 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 132 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 133 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 134 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 135 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 136 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 137 2023-003
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 138 2023-003
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 139 2023-003
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 140 2023-003
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 141 2023-004
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 142 2023-004
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 143 2023-004
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 144 2023-004
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 145 2023-005
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 146 2023-005
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 147 2023-005
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 148 2023-005
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 149 2023-006
    Significant Deficiency
  • 150 2023-006
    Significant Deficiency
  • 151 2023-006
    Significant Deficiency
  • 152 2023-006
    Significant Deficiency
  • 153 2023-007
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 154 2023-007
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 155 2023-007
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 156 2023-008
    Material Weakness
  • 157 2023-008
    Material Weakness
  • 158 2023-008
    Material Weakness
  • 576571 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576572 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576573 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576574 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576575 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576576 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576577 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576578 2023-002
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576579 2023-003
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576580 2023-003
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576581 2023-003
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576582 2023-003
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576583 2023-004
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576584 2023-004
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576585 2023-004
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576586 2023-004
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 576587 2023-005
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 576588 2023-005
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 576589 2023-005
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 576590 2023-005
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 576591 2023-006
    Significant Deficiency
  • 576592 2023-006
    Significant Deficiency
  • 576593 2023-006
    Significant Deficiency
  • 576594 2023-006
    Significant Deficiency
  • 576595 2023-007
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 576596 2023-007
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 576597 2023-007
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 576598 2023-008
    Material Weakness
  • 576599 2023-008
    Material Weakness
  • 576600 2023-008
    Material Weakness

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans $10.84M
84.063 Federal Pell Grant Program $3.88M
84.425 Education Stabilization Fund $2.21M
84.047 Trio_upward Bound $622,763
84.033 Federal Work-Study Program $589,503
84.031 Higher Education_institutional Aid $465,333
84.007 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants $436,447
84.042 Trio_student Support Services $242,540
84.044 Trio_talent Search $241,259
47.076 Education and Human Resources $164,938
99.U01 National Institute of General Medical Sciences: Institutinal Research and Academic Career Development Awards $14,636
84.217 Trio_mcnair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement $6,054
45.162 Promotion of the Humanities_teaching and Learning Resources and Curriculum Development $5,866