Report Summary
Financial-Related Audit
Lake Superior College
July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2002
Lake Superior College operated within its available resources and complied with applicable legal provisions and management's authorization. The college completed reconciliations to ensure that it recorded its financial activities in the accounting records. The college's internal controls provided reasonable assurance that it safeguarded state treasury and local bank account financial activities and complied with applicable legal provisions and management's authorization.
Key Findings:
- Lake Superior College did not properly monitor and control travel fees for one of its study abroad programs. The students paid their travel fees to the instructor who used a personal bank account to process the travel receipts instead of depositing them into the state treasury. Also, the instructor created a potential conflict of interest by allowing a family member to act as travel agent for the trip. In addition, the college paid travel costs for family members to accompany the instructor on the trip.
- Lake Superior College's administrative costs, incurred on behalf of its foundation, exceeded the amount of scholarship aid received from the foundation. The foundation was inactive until 1999, and has not yet received donations sufficient to cover its costs. The contract with the foundation requires the foundation to provide an amount equal to or more than the cost of administrative support incurred by the college.
- Lake Superior College did not promptly deposit third party receipts.
- The college did not prepare contracts for professional/technical services and did not obtain approval from the Office of the Chancellor for contract services exceeding $50,000.
Lake Superior College is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system. This financial-related audit report focused on financial management, tuition and fees, employee payroll, administrative expenditures, state financial aid, and bookstore and food service operations for the period July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2002.
