Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
3 golden objects Minnesota Legislature

Office of the Legislative Auditor - Financial Audit Division

Report Summary


Financial-Related Audit

Saint Paul College

July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2002


Since our last audit report issued in May 2000, the Saint Paul College has either fully or partially resolved the six prior audit recommendations. Our audit scope was limited by the fact that the college inappropriately discarded the food service financial records for fiscal year 2000. Except for the effect of this scope limitation, we noted that overall the college complied with applicable legal provisions, and its internal controls provided reasonable assurance that assets were safeguarded and financial activities were properly recorded. Saint Paul College's budgetary controls provided reasonable assurance that it operated within its available financial resources. However, the college had certain internal control weaknesses that impacted the safeguarding of assets and the recording of financial activities in the accounting records.

Key Findings and Recommendations:

  • The college did not resolve differences in the MnSCU to MAPS reconciliation and in the cash reconciliation. We recommended that the college resolve the differences in both reconciliations and complete the reconciliations on a timely basis.
  • Multiple users had incompatible security access. Ten employees had incompatible security groups, and several employees used a common log-on ID. We recommended that the college provide system access based upon job responsibilities and eliminate any incompatible access.
  • The college does not consistently perform employee evaluations. The college did not complete annual evaluations for classified employees. We recommended that the college evaluate classified employees annually.
  • The food service does not have adequate controls over receipt collections. The food service cash drawers had excessive overages and shortages, and the cashiers did not count cash at the end of a shift. The food service also did not review voids and did not properly account for certain coinage. We recommended that the college investigate overages and shortages and implement corrective procedures. We also recommended that the cashiers count their cash, have an independent review of voided transactions, and store change funds in the safe.

Saint Paul College is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system. This financial-related audit report focused on financial management, tuition and fees, payroll, administrative expenditures, and bookstore and food service operations for the period from July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2002.

Office of the Legislative Auditor, Room 140, 658 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55155 : legislative.auditor@state.mn.us or 651‑296‑4708