FAC Explorer

Finding 503499 (2024-002)

Significant Deficiency
Requirement
N
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2024
Accepted
2024-10-23
Audit: 325620
Organization: Northwestern College (IA)
Auditor: Cliftonlarsonallen LLP

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The College failed to report accurate disbursement dates to the COD system for Pell and Direct Loan funds.
  • Impacted Requirements: Compliance with reporting deadlines set by the Department of Education (15 days post-disbursement).
  • Recommended Follow-Up: The College should review and improve its procedures for reporting disbursements to ensure accuracy and timeliness.

Finding Text

Federal Agency: Department of Education Federal Program Title: Student Financial Aid Cluster – Various Assistance Listing Numbers: Various Federal Award Identification Number and Year: Various Pass-Through Agency: N/A Pass-Through Number: N/A Award Period: July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024 Type of Finding: 􀁸 Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance 􀁸 Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: The Department of Education requires the College to report the disbursement dates and amounts to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) system within 15 days of disbursing Pell (34 CFR 690.83(b)(2) and Direct Loan (34 CFR 685.309) funds to a student. Condition: During our testing, we noted 2 of the 40 students tested had disbursement dates per COD that did not match their student account. Questioned costs: None Context: During our testing, it was noted the College did not properly follow the process to ensure disbursements are accurately reported to COD. Cause: The College did not follow the procedure to meet the requirement that the disbursement date per the College's record must match the disbursement date in COD. Effect: Students interest accrues based on disbursement date reported to COD for Direct Loan disbursements, thus interest calculation could be skewed due to the discrepancy in disbursement dates reported. Repeat finding: No Recommendation: We recommend the College evaluate its procedures and policies around reporting disbursements to COD to ensure that student information is reported accurately and timely. Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

Corrective Action Plan

Recommendation: We recommend the College evaluate its procedures and policies around reporting disbursements to COD to ensure that student information is reported accurately and timely. Explanation of disagreement with audit finding: There is no disagreement with the audit finding. Action taken in response to finding: Starting in 2025-26 the College is transitioning to a new ERP, a more robust software system, that will correct this issue. However, in the meantime, the financial aid office will not rely on our current software to automatically match COD Disbursement dates with student account posting dates. The financial aid and business offices will communicate to ensure posting to student accounts are done on the same day as aid is disbursed. In addition, the financial aid and business offices will add a new process to compare COD reports with current software reports on a regular basis to look for any discrepancies. Any discrepancies found will be manually corrected on a timely basis. Name(s) of the contact person(s) responsible for corrective action: Eric Anderson, Director of Financial Aid Planned completion date for corrective action plan: June 30, 2025

Categories

Student Financial Aid Reporting Significant Deficiency Matching / Level of Effort / Earmarking Internal Control / Segregation of Duties

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 503492 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 503493 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 503494 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 503495 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 503496 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 503497 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 503498 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 503500 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 503501 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 503502 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 503503 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 503504 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 503505 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1079934 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 1079935 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 1079936 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 1079937 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 1079938 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 1079939 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 1079940 2024-001
    Significant Deficiency Repeat
  • 1079941 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1079942 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1079943 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1079944 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1079945 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1079946 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1079947 2024-002
    Significant Deficiency

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
84.268 Federal Direct Student Loans $9.46M
84.038 Federal Perkins Loan Program $376,504
84.379 Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grants (teach Grants) $194,326
84.033 Federal Work-Study Program $158,455
84.007 Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants $138,772
84.425 Education Stabilization Fund $92,832
84.334 Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs $15,000
84.063 Federal Pell Grant Program $1,495